Educational Media Reviews Online

This video portrays the life of Mobarak Tahiri, one of 4,000 Hanzaris boat people who arrived in Australia between 1999 and 2001, fleeing persecution from ethnic cleansing during the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan. Mobarak moved to the tiny town of Young, where he works in a meat packing factory, and is on a temporary 3-year visa. The film looks at the final year of Mobarak's visa in Australia, as he grapples with his fear of leaving Australia and having to return to Afghanistan, where he feels that he will be robbed or stoned to death. Among all of this, the film shows Mobarak and his fellow Hanzaris' life among the people of Young, especially his relationship to Lyn Rule, who befriends Mobarak and tries to help him acclimate to Australian life, and Lyn's 25-year-old daughter Molly, whom Mobarak falls in love with. The racist attitudes of the town of Young are documented in the film as well, dating back to the turn of the last century when Chinese miners revolted here (documented in the film The Birth of White Australia (1928), some of which is excerpted here). Molly has a boyfriend already, in another town, but as the film progresses, the viewer sees the relationship between Mobarak and Molly developed into more than just friendship.

The film is rather long-winded at times, but is interesting for its historical and current perspectives on life and culture in Australia, the clash of cultures that the town of Young has had to go through in its recent history, as well as illustrating how the Taliban rule in Afghanistan has affected Afghan and Australian culture.