Buzkashi Boys (2012)

In a previous life, I used to collect coins and some from Afghanistan at the turn of the 20th century were amazing mintages that precisely depicted the grand palaces that existed in Kabul at that time. Move on a century and “Ahmed” (Jawanmard Paiz) and “Rafi” (Fawad Mohammadi) now roam one such structure as it sits atop a hill, overlooking the city, in ruins. The former lad is a bit of a street urchin, the latter the son of an industrious blacksmith (Wali Talash) who rather disapproves of his son’s relationship with his orphan friend. The two boys, though, still manage to find time to explore the city, they watch the elder men play buzkashi - a game that involves men on horseback trying to get a dead goat over a score line, and they also play in what can only be described as the place where buses go to die. With so much of the place unstable and unsafe, it’s not really a shock when a tragedy befalls one of them and that leaves the other to face an uncertain future. There’s an engaging rapport between these two, indeed it would be perfectly plausible for them to have been best friends in real life (perhaps they were?) as they dream of dragging their own goat when they are older, and the snow falls around them. It’s not so much that the story here is so very remarkable, and the scoring borders on the soporific at times, but the film has an human intensity to it. The father doesn’t frown on “Ahmed” for any other reason than he has to make what life he can for both of them - and as they settle for the night in one room with an oil lamp, you realise that even a skilled and experienced man with a valuable trade is still living hand to mouth. There isn’t so much a script as some dialogue between the three that I found quite personable and I found it quite a touching short film.