AFTER WAR, BEFORE PEACE - IN SEARCHING OF DEMOCRACY IN CENTRAL AFGHANISTAN
Switzerland, 2008, 34 min
Christof Thurnherr
29.01.2010 18:45
Lal, a remote bazaar surrounded by the high mountains of the Western Hindu Kush in Central Afghanistan, struggles to find peace after more than 30 years of war. Everyday life in these harsch wintery surroundings don't seem to leave much space to deal with the new situation. Former Mujaheddin Commanders, religious leaders and newly elected state officials each have their respective views of this new system called 'democracy'. In this film these different actors tell us about their past, explain their respective views on the democratic changes and reveal their individual expectations for the future.
Language of dialogues: Farsi, English
Language of subtitles: English
Side effects: Portrait of a young artist in Lahore
Desmond Love is a mature man and feels and behaves so. He likes to smoke his pipe and looks after his ducks. Men usually like talking about cars and Dessy´s favourite subject are his two shopping-trolleys. He parks them in front of his house nad likes to enhance them with various details. Desmond is one of the residents at Camphill Clanabogan, that means a person with mental handicap. In the scope of a therapy, he learns how to write on a computer. He writes his own story. This documentary amended with short cartoons let us glimp into Dessys´s memories – word after word, exactly as he remembered them. At the same time, we have got a chance to see Dessys´s home and everyday-life of Camphill community with its permanent inhabitants: mentally disabled people, young volunteers and people, who control and administrate the home.