Motherland Afghanistan
Studio: First Run Features
WorkNameSort: Motherland Afghanistan
In many of the shots of Motherland Afghanistan where the viewer has a chance to see director/narrator Sedika Mojadidi, the Afghan-American filmmaker’s lip is quivering and her eyes well with tears. Normally, such directorial emoting would be unseemly, but Mojadidi’s heartfelt engagement with the story she tells is certainly excusable. Not only is she profiling the heartwrenching child-mortality/women’s-healthcare crisis in her bombed-to-the-Dark-Ages birthplace, but she’s doing so through the efforts of her father and mother, who frequently leave their successful U.S. practices to help ‘ as best they can ‘ train the doctors and staffs at hospitals in the country. Her father’s exasperation with the near-medieval facilities and the U.S. government’s lip service in updating them is eclipsed only by his deep and impassioned connection to his homeland. (The family left Afghanistan during the early part of the Soviet invasion; a visit to the multigenerational Mojadidi gravesite is among the film’s most moving moments.) The deft intertwining of the family story, the devastating realities of the hospital system and the determination of everyone involved to heal the country makes for a powerful film; don’t be surprised if your lip quivers a bit too.
This article appears in Apr 4-10, 2007.