Kabuli Kid (2008) User Reviews (2)

Chaos and confusion in Kabul

[ilpohirvonen · 7/10 · 20 May 2010]

Kabuli Kid directed by Barmak Akram is a France - Afghanistan co-production, which takes place in the capital city of Afghanistan, Kabul which has been under the pressure of Taliban management for over 25 years. Kabuli Kid is both artistic and entertaining, comical and political, calm and fast-paced film about a disordered city.

Khaled (Hadji Gul) is a taxi-driver, father of five girls, trying to make ends meet in Kabul. He drives around the city full of chaos, confusion and tanks. One day a woman dressed up in a blue burqa comes to his taxi with a young baby boy. As the woman leaves and the other customer comes in, the baby is still at the backseat. As Khaled tries to find the mother of the baby he starts to feel responsibility for it. Should he adopt the boy, since he has only got girls? What I know about Afghan culture it's very important to have a boy. The search for the unknown mother works as an allegory for war. The city is full of chaos and confusion -- full of tanks, violence and exploitation, orders and commands.

Khaled has an interesting hobby; he trains pigeons on his roof. In his opinion, it's not a suitable job for girls, even that his daughter would like to try it. Eventually Khaled's father takes his granddaughter to the roof. Kabuli Kid is basically a growth story; Khaled's journey to learn to approval and taking responsibility. In the end we get the solution and everything clears up. The city is no longer chaotic and confusing, but clear and functional. There's no tanks or traffic anymore. After this shot we see a block of birds, pigeons, flying away to freedom -- Kabuli Kid managed to create a redemption. Redeeming the viewer from the distressing Afghanistan reality. Kabuli Kid is funny and intelligent. It's a good description of Afghanistan under the Taliban management Highly recommended to everyone, a very good small film indeed.

Salomon's ruling

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 9 August 2011]

Kabul, a chaotic city, is at the center of this Afghani entry which proved to be a surprise when it turned up at a cable channel recently. It is a tender story in the style of films from that part of the world, notably Iran. Director Barmak Akram gives the audience a sobering account of present day Afghanistan which has seen its own share of tragedy in the past.

As the story begins, we meet Khaled, a Kabul taxi driver, moving through the dusty streets of the capital. He has lived under the Russian invasion, the Taliban regime, and now the war that still lingers in his country without any indications of ending any time soon. A woman dressed in a burka asks the price for a ride to a cinema. She does not have enough for the fare, but Khaled agrees to take her. What he does not realize is that this woman's real purpose is to abandon her infant, hoping perhaps for a better life for him.

When Khaled is warned about the baby, he is quite upset. He does not know what to do with the child. Obviously the infant is hungry, perhaps dehydrated, or who knows what. Every place he turns to, he is given no solution to his pending problem. Khaled, married to the widow of his own brother, has a household of women. His wife has nothing but girls. A boy is quite welcomed in any home with only females. Khaled, a poor working man, has enough for his present family, but another mouth to feed is too much to imagine.

Hoping to get the boy placed, Khaled goes the following morning to an orphanage. No one there can help him because of the bureaucracy. The institution does not accept children under five. Insisting to be heard, he stumbles into the director of the place, who is taking two French welfare workers around. The couple is sympathetic to his plight. They suggest to bring the baby to the radio station where a public announcement is made, asking for the mother of the baby to come forward as a reward will be given.

Khaled tries to abandon the baby at the French NGO's headquarters, and goes to change the money he was given to buy things for his household. After all, he has lost his day. Meeting some friends, he tells them about what happened to him. His buddies suggest him to keep the boy, as he will be a help later on. When he mentions the reward being given one of the friends decides to get someone to go claim the infant.

The following day, Khaled and his wife bring the boy to Kabul Radio. He meets with an old man who asks him if he knows the story of Salomon, the wise king who had a similar dilemma where he had to rule the fate of a boy being claimed by two women as belonging to them. Only when he tells his guards to cut the boy in half and give each woman a part of the baby, the real mother is found out as she begs the king not to kill the boy.

Something similar happens in the case. Three women have gathered outside claiming to he the real mother. Khaled's wife also joins the women, perhaps thinking she would like to keep him. But at the last moment the real mother arrives. Her decision to abandon the baby is never explained, but being sixteen, rape and shame, could not be discounted. The story has a happy end, in that the real mother comes to her senses, deciding to do the right thing for her son.

Director Akram tells his story without falling into sentimentality. The viewer is not manipulated by the creator in going for cuteness. It is a credible story, a product of what a country torn by war is experiencing. Haji Gul Aser, the actor playing Khaled gives a vivid portrait of a man that is put in a situation he cannot help. As much as he tries, things are against him. Being a poor working man, he cannot get another child to add to his already extended family.

"Kabuli kid" is a film that will be enjoyed by audiences looking for a fresh look at a human story.