Earth and Ashes

Colour, 35 mm
France, Afghanistan, 2004, 110 min
Section: Another View

Synopsis

Old Dastagir and his grandson Yassin climb out of a truck in the middle of the arid Afghan landscape and set out on foot along a dusty road. They eventually come to a bridge over a dry riverbed. Their road continues through the desert to a far away valley where Yassin’s father is supposed to work. The old man tries to find a truck that’s going their way. He wants to tell his son that bombs have destroyed their village and that only he and Yassin survived. Hours pass by and in his sorrow the exhausted old man doesn’t know what to do. He is trapped in his thoughts of the terrible night when his whole family died and little Yassin went deaf. Because he is afraid that the horrifying news will evoke righteous anger in his son and a desire for revenge, he somewhat subconsciously postpones their meeting. He confides his worries in the people he meets: the bridge guard, a kindly shopkeeper, and a mysterious woman who is also waiting – all are victims of a war which is still going on somewhere off screen. Based on his own novel, the filmmaker located the movie on the road connecting Kabul with northern Afghanistan, which passes through an incredibly photogenic landscape: an undulating desert between mountains. The timeframe of the old man’s journey to find his son is not precisely specified, thus the story takes on the nature of a parable of desperation caused by destructive loss, and of the need and ability of the human spirit to face the horrors of war. The director cast non-actors from among the local inhabitants.

About the director

Atiq Rahimi (b. 1962, Kabul) moved to Pakistan in 1984 and finally to France where he received political asylum; he then studied at the Sorbonne. In 1992-1995 he shot several documentaries for French television. In 2000 his first novel, Earth and Ashes, was warmly received by French critics, and in 2004 the author transferred it to the screen as his first feature. The film was chosen for the section Un certain regard at the recent festival in Cannes. Rahimi published another novel in France in 2002, Les milles maisons du rêve et de la terreur.