Educational Media Reviews Online

In 2021 the United States pulled out of Afghanistan after twenty years of war. In The Rumbling Belly of the Motherland, we fly with filmmaker Brishkay Ahmed into Afghanistan to better understand the consequences of the departure on the status of women.

The film begins with a radio address from former United States First Lady Laura Bush (November 2001 during the Global War on Terrorism following the September 11th attacks); it is a promise to Afghan women. In the address, she speaks out against the “brutal Taliban” whose goal is to suppress women. She equates the “fight against terrorism is also the fight for women’s rights.”

Director Brishkay Ahmed provides further context by comparing Kabul in the 1960s and 1970s through the eyes of her mother, who in Spring 2018 was quite ill. Her mother took Brishkay and her sisters to Canada when the United States worked with the Mujahadeen to push the Soviets out of Afghanistan; Kabul was no longer safe. Now that the United States is working with the Taliban and safety is fading again, the Motherland’s belly once more with war. After her mother died, she was motivated to create this film. The filmmaker asks the audience, “was the promise kept?” Will the women of today’s Afghanistan ever know peace and security?

This is a documentary in the observational mode. Upon arrival in Kabul, we see scenes of warfare and upheaval. The heart of the film provides an experience of the daily work by the reporters of the Women’s News Network (Zan TV). It is not overtly explicated, only shown through viewing, but the Women’s News Network is a newsroom where women write, direct, report and present news about the status of women in Afghanistan. We observe members of the news team including: Shogofa Sediqi, Nazanine Bek Sadid and Khaleda Rashid; later on, we meet additional reporters Fereshta Mahboby, Najwa Alimi and other Zan TV staff. During the shoot, viewers experience all the trials and tribulations of the newsroom – and they are sadly plentiful: the internet connection is down, they can’t access a protest for women’s education, they get lost enroute to a conference they need to cover, the studio floods, interview subjects curse at them, reporters resign, and, most importantly: the ever-present fear of being killed. In one of the first scenes the women lament the death of a fellow reporter; they gaze at his photo with grief. These women are living without peace and security. They hear blasts in Kabul and worry; they worry for their families and their families worry for them. Yet they persist and find a way. There are smiles sometimes, as when Najwa learns to use a camera without a tripod. There were smiles after two of the reporters cast their ballots.

The assignments during the filming consist of election coverage and the peace talks. Bombers are scaring participants, especially women, away from registration and voting. Voting requires a biometric registration which doesn’t work well. The Taliban are, “cutting the fingers off of people getting electronic ID cards.” Shagofi interviewed children who lost their mother; she was getting her electronic ID and was killed by a suicide bomber. The family was broken.

Interspersed between scenes following the women reporters on their assignments are black and white segments of a show called Political Talk; it is framed in a smaller screen to emulate watching a tv program. The segments contain formal interviews with prominent politicians and thinkers such as Dr. Samar (Minister of Women’s Affairs of Afghanistan, 2001-03) on the role of women within the peace talks and whether women are being sacrificed. Laila Jafari (Afghan Women’s Fellow, American University School of Public Affairs) explains that Afghan women have been the sacrifice of war in the past and the present but should not be in the future. In the 2019 peace talks only four women participated; this restriction was, “not imposed by our government…it is the wish of the Taliban and approved by the United States who is at the table.” The film presents the United States as not fulfilling its promise. The United States signed the agreement with the Taliban, earning the condemnation of an unnamed commentator on Political Talk who expressed that, “They did not involve our government or our people. They never asked for our permission.” By allowing the Taliban to take power, the ability of women to work, and working alongside men, is in jeopardy. The United States abandoned Afghan women and put their gains in peril.

Ms. Koofi (Afghan-Taliban peace delegate, 2020) is asked whether women should wear burqas; she replies that is not a religious garment but a cultural one. She says to the reporter, “I can assure you and all the Afghan women as we sit face to face Afghanistan will not return to when women were forced to dress according to regime rules.” Yet Afghan women don’t believe this. The Taliban are not trusted. Afghan women are experiencing stress and turmoil over the situation.

As a Westerner viewing the newsroom, I am impressed by all the modern technology; the reporters use tablets, digital cameras, and cell phones. They wear hijabs, high heels, and make up; they are overall fashionable. They don’t drive (I looked this up afterwards: they are allowed to drive but it is becoming more restricted by the Taliban); there is a van with a young male driver who drives them to their locations. They work with men in the studio. They are modern women. Women are shown as educators, politicians, and journalists, leaders of society. Yet, the autonomy they have is in jeopardy.

Towards the end of the documentary, we follow Shogofa home on the day the studio floods causing her to cancel an interview. She describes all the hardships, how tired she is about the lack of resources. She then adds, “But a few hours later I think it’s possible, this is a women’s’ network, we have work to do for women. It’s important because it’s in the name of women. Then I tell myself, Shogofa you can do it. Don’t worry, you’ll progress. This is good work, we’ll succeed. I convince myself, it’ll be fine.” Her work and resolve are admirable. She is so brave that she even arranges an interview with Zabihullah Mujihad the spokesperson of the Taliban. He affirms the law of Islam and Islamic values. She is brave but she is scared.

The film production is well done. Composer Chris Hind’s music helps the flow of the film without being intrusive. The editing of scenes is well structured and paced, following the women moving from the studio to interview sites, conducting interviews, viewing program segments, hearing narrative reflections, and transitioning with exterior B Roll shots of streetscapes and landscapes. One poignant scene focused on a lone shoe near a puddle of blood as a mother seeks her daughter and a child cries. The studio interviews provide commentary and context. The newsroom crew provides sympathetic characters.

The film should evoke empathy in the viewer and also stoke a sense of responsibility that might bloom into advocacy. Faculty and students interested in women’s rights, foreign policy, and political activism should view this documentary. Classroom viewings would benefit through investigating how the situation is currently unfolding. For example, read posts by BBC reporter Yalda Hakim (@BBCYaldaHakim). She is counting the days since the Taliban’s banning teenage girls from school. As of today, April 20th, 2022, it has been 215 days. She also reports on “deadly blasts in Kabul, which left many wounded…the Taliban are preventing people from donating blood.” Interested viewers might also follow NPR journalist Diaa Hadid (@diaahadid) who just reported on a school bombing in Kabul. Be sure to follow ZanTV @ZanTV as well. Questions for discussion remain: Will Afghan women know peace? What is the role of the United States today?

Awards:
Best Canadian Documentary, Long Form, Regina International Film Festival; Best Feature Film, Reel World Toronto; Nominee, Allen King Excellence in Documentary Award, Director’s Guild of Canada

Published and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Anyone can use these reviews, so long as they comply with the terms of the license.