Andover Film Club presented a pre-release showing of The Boy Mir in Screen 5 at The Reel Cinema on Thursday October 20th. The film, the second by Director Phil Grabsky following the life of Mir in Afghanistan is beautifully crafted, giving the audience a real feel of what life has been like for the majority of people in Afghanistan over the last 10 years.
Reacting to the destruction of the “Big Buddha” at Bamiyan by the Taliban, Grabsky takes his camera and focuses on 8 year old Mir as his family struggle to live in poverty with 200 other families in the caves around the ruins of the Buddha after fleeing there to escape the war. His first film on the subject, "The Boy who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan" in that first year of his life in the caves. This second, and in my view much better film, follows his life up the present, as the family move back to their home village and struggle in poverty in the rural environment of their harsh country.
The camera work is superb, showing the heart-stoppingly beautiful panoramas of the scenery at its best, whilst capturing in candid simplicity the close-up portrayal of rural people in Afghanistan. The conflict between the need to obtain an education and the wish to support his family is tellingly told through the film. Even when he makes it to school, Mir and his fellow pupils have to struggle with inadequate resources for a proper education. The scenes of Mir as a twelve year old, trying to plough mountainside slopes with 2 donkeys and primitive single-blade plough, brings a tear to even the hardest of hearts. Conflict and corruption are still with us as we leave Mir with an uncertain future in a country teetering on the brink of civil war.
I thoroughly recommend this film and viewed on the big screen to get the best of the beautiful panoramas.
Mark Grainger
Secretary – Andover Film Club