GFF 2010: Kandahar Break

 

“They’ve been fighting in Afghanistan since Alexander the Great - it’ll never change, so leave the fuckers to it” shrugs an apathetic minesweeper near the beginning of Kandahar Break. If you’re looking for further socio-political insight, you’ll be disappointed: after introducing such promising themes as the amorality of Western capitalism and the ethics of British companies accepting Taliban contracts, the script takes a sharp downturn. While countless films have framed the suffering of others through that of a detached outsider receiving a crash-course in foreign woes, here it feels particularly superficial. The simplistic ‘escape from Afghanistan’ structure is topped with an implausibly neat post-9/11 denouement that offers unconvincing closure in a political situation still awaiting its own resolution. Fluffed potential aside, the film is sporadically successful, particularly in evoking the early fear and confusion prompted by a combination of gun-waving local intolerance and the protagonist’s own ignorance. Yet such minor accomplishments fail to redeem Kandahar Break’s more deep-rooted flaws.