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A Close-up View on Mohsen Makhmalbaf''s Life in Kabul

Jila baniyaghoob
Summary: Makhmalbaf is living in Kabul along with his family including his wife Marzieh, his children Samira, Hanna and Meitham and even his mother and sister. Shortly after he arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan, Makhmalbaf found out that he could not differentiate between filmmaking, which was the main objective of his visit, and contribution to training Afghan children, establishment of public libraries and building schools. That''s why he became occupied in almost all the mentioned tasks. He is currently involved in construction of schools, while he keeps calling on the public for providing relief aid required for reconstruction and equipment of Kabul orphanage by printing commercials in the Iranian and foreign newspapers. Meanwhile, he is also working on his films.

Text: I met Mohsen Makhmalbaf, the prominent Iranian cinematographer, in his house located at one of the streets of the Afghan capital city Kabul. He was clad in Afghan clothing and as my colleague said, "He has been associating with Afghans so often that he almost looks like them."

Makhmalbaf is residing in Kabul along with his whole family including his wife, Marziyeh, his daughters Samira and Hanna and his son Meitham. He has even taken along his mother and sister. They live at a two-floor house located at "Qassabha" (the butchers) alley at one of Kabul''s central streets. The house serves both as their residence and working place. Makhmalbaf, his family and his cinematic colleagues accompanying him for film production all live and work in the same house.

We arrived at Makhmalbaf''s house at dinnertime, when several individuals were involved in setting the table and distributing food, while Meitham and his aunt were busier than anyone else. Makhmalbaf''s elder daughter, who had just arrived and was still in his black manteau, kindly went towards the refrigerator, opened its door and speaking to the little Afghan boy asked him to help himself to anything he might wish.

The little boy staring at the food inside the refrigerator with surprise eventually picked up a big drink, hugged it and said: "Hannah, ...Hannah."

Makhmalbaf told me that when Samira and her brother had been out to make a phone call, they had come across the boy at the part near their house.

The boy had told Samira while crying that fearing the stray dogs he has not been sleeping for many nights. He has lost all his family members in the US bombings except her sister who lives somewhere in the country with her husband. In the past months, all throughout the warm and cold nights he has been sleeping in the park and has gained a bite of bread in the daytime. Now, every time he is offered food, reminding his sister from whom he doesn''t hear anymore, he keeps on saying, "I don''t want any food, I am looking for my sister." Then he goes after Hanna, Makhmalbaf''s younger daughter.

Makhmalbaf says, "Even I myself don''t have any idea how long he is going to stay with us. But he should stay with us as long as he grows up and can manage to take care of himself. As by whom he was brought to us doesn''t actually make much difference." Makhmalbaf said that he has been seriously involved with Afghanistan for the past two or three years.

The interest dates back to the time when he was up to produce his film called "Qandahar". His clandestine visit to Afghanistan three years ago was actually on account of this very film, since he intended to conduct the preliminary research for making Qandahar. The visit took place simultaneous with the migration of a great number of villagers to outskirts of the city of Herat. Makhmalbaf narrates the memoirs of those days in Herat with great sorrow:

"The villagers were dying of hunger and didn''t believe at all that such incidents are taking place in our neighborhood. Nonetheless, no one in our country ever said a word about it. Neither did the press, the radio and TV broadcast nor even the world news media mentioned anything about it."

"When I used to make a film at Iran-Afghan borderline, I witnessed migrants attempting to rush towards Iran''s borders on foot. Nonetheless, some of them lost their lives out of hunger and disease before reaching a city such as Zabul, while some had walked on mines on their way. It was hard to believe that such deprived people used to frequent the borderlines of our homeland. Whenever reference is made to hunger and poverty, the first thing coming to one''s mind is Africa and we all forget that Afghanistan is another Africa located beyond our border. Facing such catastrophic events every day, Makhmalbaf felt for the Afghans more deeply."

Makhmalbaf has been living with Afghanistan for many years and has closely witnessed the difficulties encountered in the everyday life. Nevertheless, he is still faced with new problems day by day, which makes his heart squeezed. He says, "As if one would never get used to observing so much poverty and disaster and one would feel harmed every day."

Extras for Samira''s Film

Finding extras for Samira''s film left a great impression on Makhmalbaf. Despite the fact that in Afghanistan hardly any woman is prepared to appear in a film on account of family prejudice, Samira was looking for extras for her film. The same prejudice that according to Mohsen Makhmalbaf, mainly accounts for the appearance of the Taleban. He says, "The Afghans have never had a correct image of the cinema. Once they are asked if they are willing to play in a film, they imagine that they should either dance or sing, while the film itself might seem to them nothing but the love story of a girl and a boy along with dancing and singing."

Eventually only a number of hungry individuals were the only ones who agreed to appear in Samira''s film as a multitude, who just meant to earn something for themselves and their families. The first day Samira started working with them, she had to stop the film production. According to her, "Since they were too hungry to be able to work, before anything they had to be fed."

The day Samira produced part of her film with 150 Afghan individuals she had to serve 500 food portions. Nonetheless, by the end of the day, some claimed that they hadn''t got anything to eat. This was due to the fact that some of the women had got several food portions and had hidden them under their Burqas in order to take them for their children who had hardly got anything to eat for days on end.

If You Visit Afghanistan!

There was no end to Makhmalbaf''s stories about Afghanistan. He adds, "I may sound to exaggerate to those who have never been to Afghanistan. However, if they happen to visit the country, they would hardly be indifferent to what''s going on. Even if they make up their minds to pay attention to everything and everyone once they arrive in Afghanistan, it will almost be out of question."

Then he stared at the floor, which was covered with floor mat and told me in a moment, "One cannot be indifferent to what is witnessed, even if one doesn''t intend to pay attention to them since the beginning."

$13 Paid Monthly to A Surgeon

A few days before this interview, Makhmalbaf got seriously sick and was taken to a hospital at Kabul''s Vazir Akbarkhan neighborhood. Once he was in the hospital, Makhmalbaf asked a surgeon about the reason for Afghan migrants having left for Europe where they had become physicians not returning home to help their countrymen. The Afghan surgeon replied, "As a surgeon my monthly salary is just dlrs 12-13. Can one afford to live on this income?"

According to Makhmalbaf, while this was the best state hospital in Kabul, the salary of the surgeons working there is quite low and no medicine is available there for many diseases.

Makhmalbaf''s words reminded me of the Afghan physician, Mohammad, who had told me a few days ago at one of Kabul clinics, "Most of the medicine available in Afghanistan are fake and have been imported from Pakistan." Mohammad had also told me, "You know, nowadays even the medicine imported from Iran is hard to come by."

While Makhmalbaf was talking about the difficulties of living in Afghanistan, his eyes looked tired and melancholy. He says, "This time, when I was leaving Iran for Afghanistan, I took along about 2,000 aleppo boil ointments, since here you can hardly come by anyone who is not infected with aleppo boils. With a cheap ointment one could prevent its consequences. Of course, it is so easy to talk about it, but when it comes to practice it seems almost out of question, since a minimum of 20,000 aleppo boil ointments should be imported into the country in order to campaign merely against the single disease. I asked him, "Mr. Makhmalbaf, after all you have already said what made you and your family come to Kabul?"Makhmalbaf says, "There are so many basic requirements in Afghanistan and such a great need for responding to such demands, that it doesn''t make much difference what makes any individual to visit Afghanistan. No matter if one visits the country with the objective to make a report or any other reason, once the visitor leaves Afghanistan he would certainly feel to have partially left behind his heart. That''s why one would like to return to the country over and over again."

Makhmalbaf has so far visited about 40-50 countries, but he has hardly ever wished to return to any one. He says, "I have only had such a strong feeling for revisiting any country, among the 40-50 states I have so far been to." He adds, "Once when I visited India, I went through such a strong desire on account of the marvelous diversity of cultures I came across over there. The second time I had such a feeling was when I was visiting Afghanistan, which was on account of its special circumstances and the strange feeling of nostalgia, which overshadows one''s feelings. The feeling was so strong that it made me revisit the country over and over again. Of course, my main objective was not to produce films."

Makhmalbaf is involved in production of two long feature films in Kabul. One is being directed by his daughter, Samira. The other is being directed by the Afghan Film Producer, Sediq Barmak, who is a post-graduate from a Russian university. Barmak is also the President of "Afghan Film", which is an institute similar to the Cinematic Department of Iran''s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance or Farabi Cinematic Foundation. Of course "Afghan Film" has no facilities. It is neither equipped with a laboratory, no a studio and not even with a camera. The only thing they possessed was an out-of-order camera, which was sent to Iran by Makhmalbaf to be repaired.

As a matter of fact, both films are being produced by a joint Iran-Afghan team. The experts of both groups are Iranians and the Afghans are just working experimentally to gain expertise. Once they are through with the two films currently being produced, they intend to form the first Afghan professional cinematic group to initiate working their first film in the new era. Besides Makhmalbaf is nowadays involved in getting prepared for the Kabul International Film Festival. He is making his best to make Qandahar''s actress, Niloufar Pazira, to preside over the festival. He hopes that the festival would provide a modern atmosphere for the Afghan cinema.

Makhmalbaf continued, "In view of the recent difficulties in Afghanistan, specially in the past decade, it is actually estranged with image. During the past 100 years, just 40 long and short films have been produced in the country. This is all there is to its cinema and one can write its entire cinematic history in a whole week." He noted, "It''s just enough to watch the 40 films. What I would like to point out is that the history of Afghan cinema is quite short. Meanwhile, in Afghan cinemas mostly Indian films have been screened. People''s image on cinema in Afghanistan is either Russian films produced during the reign of Russians or Indian films, which are still screened in their cinemas."

Not Only for Cinema But for Afghanistan

Makhmalbaf has not only taken many measures for Afghan cinema, but has likewise done many things for the Afghans and Afghanistan itself. A while ago, he called upon Iranian film producers to present as many films to the Afghan people as they can afford, so that they will be screened in Afghanistan''s cinemas. After the call, 30 feature films were donated to Afghanistan''s cinema. He says, "I meant not only to compete against the Indian films, but to change the imagination of Afghans about cinema. Since, even the worst Iranian films have a social message to convey. Iranian cinema, after all, reflects the various aspects of people''s life." He adds, "Iranian cinema including its artistic films of general appeal and its films of special genre is marked by its social aspect quite different from that of Indian films."

Since Afghans are used to Indian films, Kabul cinemas have actually accepted to screen just one Iranian film every night. The proceeds from screening Iranian films are to be allocated to holding the first Kabul International Film Festival.

Two Schools in Herat

Makhmalbaf is currently involved in making three schools in Herat with the proceeds from Samira''s films. Each school will consist of 28 classrooms covering 2,480 meters and 5,000 meters of courtyard.

One of the schools, the construction of which was initiated by Iran''s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was left unfinished. It is now being constructed by Makhmalbaf and his accompanying group. After the fall of the Taleban, Makhmalbaf started his attempts towards educating the Afghan children and young adults who had been deprived of education during the war. Some of them were the children staying in Iran and who on account of the illegal residence of their parents in Iran were never allowed to attend school.

Given that such a measure known as "Afghan Children Education Movement" required financial means and other facilities, Makhmalbaf took over to call for relief aid by advertising in Iranian dailies, which are still remembered by a lot of Iranians. The ads were usually published in full color in reformist dailies. They showed the portrait of an Afghan girl with a phrase calling on the public for relief aid to be extended for the education of Afghan children. The expenses of the ads amounted to rls 600 million, but the dailies publishing them refused to receive any money in favor of Afghan children. But what was the outcome? The public just contributed rls 10 million. According to Makhmalbaf, "Such a reaction merely shows the lack of public confidence, even in the press, the same ones which are nowadays acceptable more than others."

Then Makhmalbaf appeared on a Greek TV broadcast and addressed the public in a one-hour program in a not-too-fluent English, as he himself put it. The same one-hour program ended up in a public aid of 80,000 dollars transferred to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) deposit account, which had been announced by Makhmalbaf. What is the reason behind it? Why did he fail to collect a remarkable amount in favor of the Afghan children in his own country? How did his one-hour speech make the Greek to donate such a great amount to the cause? Was the failure of such an appeal in Iran owing to two decades of official and direct state publicity made in favor of Afghan people, which now manifested itself in such an indifference?

Kabul Orphanage

Another project taken on by Makhmalbaf, which occupies so much of his time nowadays, is the equipment and reconstruction of Kabul Orphanage, where 800 orphans are taken care of. They have lost their parents in war, while they are mostly killed in tribal wars, fighting against one another.

The health condition at Kabul Orphanage was disastrous. They didn''t even have sanitary bathrooms and showers. Nonetheless, owing to the same project, the orphanage is now equipped with 10 sanitary showers and bathrooms. Makhmalbaf even employed a physician in the orphanage in order to provide them with proper health and treatment.

When Makhmalbaf launched a campaign for the education of Afghan children, he realized that many of them were sick. That''s why he made up his mind to do something about their health, in the first place and then proceed with their education. At the same time, many Iranian physicians of various specialties announced their readiness to cooperate with him and took on to treat a lot of children free of charge. They consisted of 24 physicians who are now prepared to visit Afghanistan and treat the infected children or make surgeries on them free of charge.

Makhmalbaf says, "It will be preferable to provide the facilities for making surgical operations in Afghanistan so that the Iranian physicians can treat their patients in Afghanistan. Then the Afghan children needing medical treatment wouldn''t have to go through all the trouble to get entry visas to visit Iran in order to have their heart or eye operated. An optician included at the 24-member volunteered Iranian physicians, is willing to visit Afghanistan and operate 2,000 cataract patients in two months; provided that the required facilities would be available over there.

I asked Makhmalbaf, "You have been living with Afghans and their problems for quite a time. I would like to find out what is their most significant problem from your point of view?"

From his point of view, there are currently three major problems in Afghanistan, the most important of which is lack of funds. Makhmalbaf says, "The conversion of our deprived traditional community into a relatively modern one was materialized on account of oil revenue. While the Afghans neither have oil, nor any substitute. The question now is not that the Taleban have closed the schools and that the new government is now determined to reopen them. But the actual issue is, how and with what budget do they intend to run the schools? The world has claimed that it has already donated an amount of 4.5 billion dollars to Afghanistan in five years. For the time being, I would like to leave aside the fact whether such a promise would be materialized. But even if it is materialized, the amount would never suffice to respond to the preliminary needs of the Afghan people.
Makhmalbaf Writes to Annan

When the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, visited Iran, Mohsen Makhmalbaf was invited to a glorious reception arranged in Tehran by Iranian authorities in Kofi Annan''s honor. Instead of attending the reception, Makhmalbaf addressing a letter to Kofi Annan, told Iranian officials, "I apologize for not coming to the reception. I would rather appreciate if you hand in this letter to the Secretary-General instead of my presence."

In his letter, pointing to the 4.5 billion dollars donated to Afghanistan by the world, Makhmalbaf had written, "Mr. Annan, the amount of 4.5 billion dollars divided between 20 million Afghans would mean that every Afghan is to receive a relief aid of 225 dollars in five years. That means an annual per capita quota of 45 dollars."

He adds, "From Iranian point of view, every Afghan is to receive a daily relief quota of rls 1,000 from the world. It seems like we are supposed to provide every Afghan with one loaf of bread every day. Under such circumstances, the Afghan nation will continue to be poor and given the current domestic and world condition, they can only continue begging."

His letter added, "Mr. Kofi Annan, how can one manage to save the Afghans from their historically deprived world and introduce them to the modern world of today with an annual amount of dlrs 45 in a country which has no economic resources? It has somehow stayed away from the world''s general cultural trend. Even if we can manage to return Afghanistan to its status of two decades ago, namely before it underwent all the disastrous events, they would just be on the verge of cattle breeding era, instead of the present age to which the entire world is currently exposed to.

Large-Scale Begging

According to Makhmalbaf, the Afghan transitional government, which has constantly been calling upon the world for relief aid, which is actually a type of large-scale begging, has not so far managed to take a more active role.

He says, "Did you know that Afghanistan''s historical problem is that it has nothing of value which would be of interest in the post-imperialistic era? In the world of today, every country has somehow a share in the world economy one may have oil, while the other might be rich in industries, etc. What I mean is that every country has something to present at the global trade market. Nonetheless, Afghanistan has nothing that would enable it to join the global economy. That''s why it is absolutely isolated."

Makhmalbaf expresses his view on Afghanistan''s former and current community as follows: "I suppose that before Afghanistan was attacked by the ex-Soviet Union, cattle breeding was its main source of income. Given that 75 percent of the country is covered by mountains, it has never been suitable for agriculture. There is no dam anywhere in Afghanistan to harness waters, except Panjshir Valley. All across the country is either flood-hit or plagued with drought. Thus pastures were the only natural reserves available, which were only good for cattle breeding."

"Afghanistan''s economy depending merely on cattle breeding accounts for their tribal and traditional life style, which continued even after it was invaded by the Russians. The only change brought about was that the Afghan `shepherds'' became `Mujaheds'' (warriors) and started defending their nation and resisting against the enemy. The Afghans who before the Russian invasion were involved in cattle breeding changed their jobs and started to combat as they were encouraged to do so by the budgets dedicated to the effect either by the West or by financial means provided by the neighboring states. After all, Jihad (holy war) and resistance required a budget. When Iran was attacked by Iraq, our expenses were provided by oil revenues. But Afghanistan, unlike us, had not any resources. You can imagine how should a shepherd earn his living, once he has to fight instead of breeding cattle. Thus there was no other way rather than either being fed by the neighboring states or by the West. Afghanistan was converted into a large dumping place located in-between the world superpowers including Russia, China and the United States. Then ideological countries such as Iran having recently gained power were also added later. Given that the Afghans themselves were short of any financial means, they could only resist if their expenses were provided by others. That''s why the Mujaheds were soon converted into mercenaries," he added.

When I looked at him surprised, he took a pause and went on, "I say all this, despite my affection and respect for the Afghans. I believe that I should analyze them, since I have strong feelings for them. One should properly analyze the image of the Afghans to find out how the simple shepherd became a Mujahed and was then converted into a mercenary without noting the process. As a matter of fact, each group was hired by one of the mentioned countries and the ones who achieved to stick to their originality owed their independence to their negative balance. For instance one tribe chose to fight with the Russians in the first place, while later on it was aided by the Russians to fight with Pakistan."

Negative Reaction to Modernization

According to Makhmalbaf, once the ex-Soviet Union raided Afghanistan, the bitter taste of the past catastrophe of Shah Amanollah Khan who had attempted to modernize the Afghan community simultaneous with Ataturk in Turkey and Reza Shah in Iran, was repeated once more. Nonetheless, the fact was that the Afghan community lacked the potential required for urbanization and modernization. Not owning the necessary resources for going through the development process might have been the most significant reason for it. As a consequence, the same tribal structure which was rooted in the economy depending on cattle breeding ended up in their heavy failure.

Given that Makhmalbaf has spent many years examining the Afghan community, he briefed me patiently on the result of his survey. He noted, "Afghanistan is a community which was attempted to be modernized twice, once by Shah Amanollah Khan and the other time by the Russians. Nonetheless, on both occasions, the reaction of the Afghan community was quite negative. Believe me that the damage inflicted by the Russians were not so grave as that done by the Afghans themselves. Once the Russians withdrew, various Afghan tribes and ethnic groups started fighting with one another and destroyed Kabul. Despite the fact that the Russian attack was a colonial measure, probably if they were not faced with the negative reaction of the Afghans, it would have even born positive consequences for them. Nowadays, a lot of people say nice things about Najibullah Mahfouz, Afghanistan''s last Communist President and while they regret his murder they wish the Lord''s Mercy for him, who served his nation very well."

Twenty Films or 20 Years of Wandering

In the past days, Makhmalbaf has been telling himself that if he were born in Kabul instead of Tehran, instead of having produced 20 films in the past 20 years, he would have wandered for 20 years. This is exactly what happened to 35 percent of the Afghan people, who have been homeless for 20 years. Shortly after he arrived in Kabul, Makhmalbaf realized that he cannot differentiate between filmmaking, contributing to the education of Afghan children, and making libraries and schools in that country. That''s why he almost worked on every one of them and as he himself put it, "Gradually everything was mixed up and I realized that I am just following my feelings."