The Boy Who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan 2012
Distributed by Microcinema International/Microcinema DVD, 2169 Folsom Street, Suite M101, San Francisco, CA 94110; 415-447-9750
Produced by Seventh Art Productions
Directed by Phil Grabsky
DVD, color, 96 min.
Sr. High - General Adult
Adolescence, Area Studies, Biography, Middle Eastern Studies, Military Studies, Religious Studies, Storytelling
Date Entered: 04/24/2012
Reviewed by Brad Eden, Ph.D., Dean of Library Services, Valparaiso UniversityThis film examines the life of a boy in Afghanistan on a micro level, and the 30-year wars within Afghanistan on a macro level. In 2001, the Taliban destroyed the Buddhas of Bamiyan, the tallest stone statues in the world. Near these statues lives an eight-year-old boy named Mir with his family. They barely eke out an existence, yet amid the devastation and death that has been a part of Afghan life for decades, Mir is always cheerful and happy in a way that children of his age can always be. The director shows the meager existence of the Afghan people near and around the destroyed statues, as well as everyday life with Mir and his friends. The footage of children at play in the midst of war and destruction, and the survival of a people and way of life, is set against dramatic and panoramic pictures of the Afghan landscape. A follow-up to this film, The Boy Mir: Ten Years in Afghanistan (2010), is now available as well. Anyone who wants to show how the current and former wars in Afghanistan are affecting its people, needs to see and show this movie.