The film What we left unfinished is based on the history of the Afghan Film Archive. It reconstructs hidden and parallel narratives of both state propaganda and the experience of the Afghan Film Archive’s management and film directors during the period of Afghan Communism. The artists who are currently working on the film are Mariam Ghani and Qasim Naqvi.
The film talks about the art of film under the “iron curtain” of the Afghan Communism. During that time art was considered as the decoration for the government. Artists were not allowed to make art freely. They could not use pens and brushes to release the emotion in their mind. They were only allowed to make art about the positive side of the local Communist government. Any art works that violated the main idea (describing how good the Communist government was) would be eliminated and the artist was going to get himself into a lot of troubles. Art, during that time under the Afghan Communism, was not art anymore. In my opinion, the art became a positive propaganda tool to deceive people – only told people the positive side of the government. Films became the best way. Due to the passion that people had towards films during that time, films became the best way to spread the appraisal toward the government. So, the government forced the film directors to make films to eulogize the government.
The part that touched me most was the part that one of the directors said that he would never make films that were fake or cried out a voice that was different from the voice deep in his mind. But if he did that and made a film about the truth (containing the critics towards the government), he would get himself in a lot of large troubles. He had to worried about that someone who worked for the government would break into his house during night and got him arrested.
The favorite part of the film is the theme of the film. It showed me how art became in other part of the world. Art is not always a fancy thing. Most of the artists use art as a tool, or a medium to express the voice in their mind. They use art to express their appraisal to the world or to express their feelings. At some point, they use art as weapons to attack. During the revolution time artists made art to confront the old government and society. But art could also be used by the person in power to control the people. Art is not as fancy and free as we see it today.
There is one little thing that I don’t like about the film. The starting of the film was just flashing black and white. It really hurt my eyes a lot and made me dizzy.
I agree, the opening was a little bit unusual, especially compared to the relatively conventional remainder of the film. You make an interesting assertion that propaganda is not art, and while I do not necessarily disagree, I think it needs a little more clarification. Most of the directors and actors admitted that they were not supporters of the communist government, and as such, the material they were forced to make was usually so edited and dictated to them by the government overseers that it definitely struggled to fit the idea that art should be an expression of the creator. However, in cases where the artist supported the cause they were told to champion, like with Tatlin and his Monument, it becomes more of a gray area. In this particular case of forced art, even though the directors said they were given a fair amount of freedom in how they presented the messages they were ordered to present, the movies were subject to extreme censorship after production, so I agree that even if they had the opportunity to make real artistic expression, it was usually squashed in the cutting room floor at the hands of Soviet and Afghan government censors.
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