If there’s one constant in this world, it is the endless succession of ambiguously gay European indie films about finding ones own self on an epic journey with brooding music.
I recently sat down with this movie to see if it was really about how awesome Nuristan is, and how awesome it must have been to pack up an old Ford and drive from Geneva to Kabul, back in the day.
Alas. It wasn’t a bad movie per se, but it was so stereotypically “indie.” The sexual ambiguity. The droning voice overs about despair and verzweiflung—in German, did I mention? The plodding series of encounters too unbelievable to believe (that leg rub with silky-smooth Jale). The obviously not-Afghanistan desert vistas that look for all the world like they are really in Jordan.
As the women take off on their journey, Europe is descending into War. Across the Balkans, the Black Sea, and Turkey, the two women grow ever closer as they navigate the men who act as gatekeepers for their journey: prickly border guards undone by a butch lesbian wearing a thickly woven tie, the vile pigs of the French consulate in Tehran, the preening sneers of Deutsche superiority.
Of course related to this is the idea of running away to prove oneself. Any fan of Chasing the Sea can relate—the further you get from home, the easier it is to become someone else. This progress is actually quite beautiful to see a it unfolds, as each woman learns new ways to relate to each other and the world around.
Regardless, the burning urge to strike out for an exotic land to prove yourself is one I found unsettlingly appealing. Ella, the rather square-faced woman leaning against the wall above, has a history of making daring voyages—to Tibet, obviously, but also elsewhere—but hasn’t yet made her mark on academia. The other, a failed writer whose constant expositions on darkness and world-hating rivaled the original Harrison Ford voice overs for Blade Runner for sheer insipidity, seems more to be looking for an escape, rather than some sort of professional fulfillment.
Whatever. It’s obviously silly in some places, but well meaning and beautifully shot. If you enjoy movies as much about the love of a place and the salve of the journey to it as anything else, it’s an enjoyable watch. Just make sure you’re well-rested before you do.
This post was written by...
Joshua Foust – author of 1801 posts on Registan.net.
Joshua Foust is a Fellow at the American Security Project and the author of Afghanistan Journal: Selections from Registan.net. His research focuses primarily on Central and South Asia. Joshua is a correspondent for The Atlantic and a columnist for PBS Need to Know. Joshua appears regularly on the BBC World News, Aljazeera, and international public radio. Joshua is also a regular contributor to Foreign Policy’s AfPak Channel, and his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Reuters, and the Christian Science Monitor. Follow him on twitter: @joshuafoust
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