Love Crimes of Kabul | Review

In the Muslim centric country of Afghanistan, a place most Americans have come to have rather mixed feelings about, culture shock sets in as we witness the everyday happenings of a people that live with such a vastly different moral belief system. Director Tanaz Eshaghian’s ground breaking access to Kabul’s Badam Bagh Women’s Prison delves deep into the moral beliefs that permeate the Afghan legal system. Though interviews imbue nearly every situation, Eshaghian’s tact is much more conversational than most, playing off of the the prisoners as they debate their situations and spill their hearts, unveiling a sexist system at war with physical affection and basic human rights.

The film follows the trials of three young women arrested for various moral crimes, which in most modern societies would pass as normal acceptable behavior, but in Afghanistan a woman can be thrown in prison for years for leaving her husband, having premarital sex, or various other everyday happenings. A 20 year old woman named Kareema was arrested after turning herself in for having premarital sex following a refusal of marriage by her boyfriend, Firuz, after she discovered she was pregnant. In a similar case, Sabereh, an 18 year old girl, was turned in by her father after he found her in a closet with a 17 year old boy. With her virginity being proven still in tact by a doctor, she still faces time in prison for sodomy. The last case Eshaghian follows is that of Aleema, a 22 year old woman who fled her abusive home, taking refuge in the home of a stranger named Zia. They were both arrested after Zia accidentally tried to sell Aleema to an undercover cop. All three women face up to 20 years in prison for their crimes, but if they manage to negotiate a marriage deal before their trial (the only acceptable solution in Afghan society), their sentences will be significantly reduced, if not completely abolished. While in captivation, they are forced to room with true criminals, convicted of thievery, assault, or even murder.

Thanks to a new wave of media infiltration and a generation raised with slightly more access to information, these women thought for themselves, but unfortunately for them their society more than frowns upon the idea of love and women’s rights. Instead, marriage is thought more of as a financial transaction between tribes and families, and women are expected to accept being essentially sold into a predetermined relationship at the whim of their parents. This is almost unthinkable to most westerners, and Eshaghian does her best to expose these harsh realities of modern day Afghan women. Just being allowed to film inside the walls of the prison must have been extremely difficult, but Eshaghian filmed these women over the course of three months. Speaking with not only our protagonists, but the female prison heads, guards, and families of the prisoners, the message that these women were in the wrong comes across loud and clear. At one point a social worker goes so far to tell Aleema, “A bad husband is better than no husband…None of this would have happened if you had a husband and a nice home.” The moral of the story? Afghan women must maintain face, accept their unfair circumstances, and pay for their dishonorable actions with family disgrace, and extremely harsh jail time, unless they can work out an emotionally detached marriage deal.

Love Crimes Of Kabul tells a tale never put to film before. With constraints in place, and a very touchy subject that debates the religious and legal validity of the restrictions of women’s rights in Afghanistan, Tanaz Eshaghian tackles the task quite carefully, never over stepping her predetermined boundaries. The result is a potent and eye opening account of a society behind the times, constantly gripping tightly to well worn traditions with its head held high.

HBO Documentary Films Premiere

Rating 3 stars