Kandahar
The prolific Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Gabbeh) had one  of his most visible international successes with this haunting, open-ended  drama. Set (and shot) during the Taliban era, it follows an Afghani-Canadian  woman as she attempts to enter Afghanistan in search of a despondent sister.  Since it is illegal for a woman to travel alone, she must rely on the  kindness--or curiosity--of strangers, including a scrappy boy and a mysterious American  doctor. The woman playing the lead role had earlier contacted Makhmalbaf about a  similar real-life search, which prompted him to write the screenplay. The  director doesn't really tell her story so much as he unveils a way of life: in  the desert, we meet land-mine victims, Red Cross volunteers caught in aCatch-22world, and women smothered in head-to-foot burkas. The portrait  is one of oppression, but also of people furiously trying to get by.--Robert  Horton