Hollywoodgate (2024)

Now I appreciate the costs of repatriating hundreds of tons of equipment from Afghanistan to nearby ships or bases might be significant, but could those really have justified the leaving of some $7 billions in kit and medical supplies to an enemy that US and NATO forces had spent the last decade trying to eradicate? Well this documentary from Egyptian cameraman Ibrahim Nash’at takes us on a tour with the new Taliban rulers of this country as they explore the Aladdin’s caves of supplies abandoned by those allied forces. Just about everything from bottles of Scotch to cough drops fill an extensive array of warehouses and their new owners are carefully scrutinising their contents to ensure they are swiftly used amongst their population. What they might not have expected to inherit, though, are military aircraft. Helicopters and fixed wing aircraft in varying degrees of disrepair are left there - along with, I assume, the spare parts held at bases like Bagram - and so their leaders are promising special commendations for those qualified to turn these hulks of metal into the weapons they once were. What is clear here is that the Talib now running the place are no tribal warlords. These are capable and experienced wartime commanders who know exactly what they want to achieve for a country they now consider “free”. There isn’t any narration, we just follow these men as the inspect and plan whilst appealing to God to help their cause and fighting a few insurgents of their own. Some of the observational photography - which is often treated with scepticism by it’s subjects - offers us some forthright opinions on both the former Afghan administration and the role of women in society. "Would you rather have a wrapped sweet that had been thrown on the ground or an unwrapped one?" This is certainly not an hatchet job on these fighters, and many come across as proud citizens immersed in genuinely held religious beliefs that they advocate will make their nation and their citizens healthier, wealthier and safer and although the cultural clashes are stark when compared with more “western” attitudes, these folk do not come across as ignorant barbarians, but as rational individuals with strong opinions rooted in centuries old traditions of patriarchies. Most of us watching will disagree with many of those, but by watching and informing this might disabuse us of some of the perceptions of brutality and excesses and encourage us to look more collaboratively with a people who are militaristic, certainly, but perhaps more of necessity than design?