(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Count Spring Not to Come This Year
Directed by: Saeed Taji Farouky and Michael McEvoy, photo: Saeed Taji Farouky
In 2014, the US and European ISAF forces, known to withdraw from Afghanistan, began handing over to local forces themselves trained to safeguard the nation's further security. IN Count Spring Not to Come This Year documentary filmmakers Saeed Taji Farouky and Michael McEvoy have followed one of these Afghan companions through their first year without international military assistance.
The film is thus akin to the award-winning Danish documentary Armadillo, where director Janus Metz Pedersen and photographer Lars Skree followed a Danish brigade in Helmud province for half a year.
Brutal and poetic. In British produced Count Spring Not to Come This Year we are again in Helmud province, which the Afghan forces have now taken over from ISAF forces. However, they do not have full control as the area is still characterized by the presence of the Taliban.
The title captures the essence of the film: the raw materiality of the war depicted with a strong presence, but also with a thoughtful, poetic expression.
The film's two central characters are Captain Jalaluddin and Private Sunnatullah, who not least characterize the film's soundtrack with their views in voice-overnarration. The title Count Spring Not to Come This Year is taken from a poem by Khaliullah Khalili which is read by Jalaluddin in the film, but also shows the time when the Taliban mobilize for attack. Although it may at first appear a bit cryptic, the title captures the essence of the film: the cruelty of war depicted with a strong presence, but also with a thoughtful, poetic expression.
A similar contrast can be found in the change between the soldiers' not too eventful daily life on the hill, against the dramatic fighting actions the filmmakers have documented. Like many other war movies, gears Count Spring Not to Come This Year the impression that war participation is also about killing time. Other very intense and unpleasant scenes show harsh confrontations with the Taliban, from which not all soldiers return home unscathed. Before the reel text we get a list of the soldiers who lost their lives in the period while the recordings were going on. They are not few.
Ambivalence. However, the film is as much about ambivalence as it is about clear contradictions. Not least, the soldiers have mixed feelings about the withdrawal of international forces.
Likewise, the filmmakers show a squad that is not always fully equipped to meet the challenges, while drawing a picture of courageous, proud and patriotic young men working to rebuild their homeland. However, many of them – including both Sunnatullah and Jalaluddin – have also chosen the army in the absence of other employment opportunities, making it sad to hear a soldier tell his superior that he has not been paid a full salary for nine months.
The director duo has obviously put themselves at great risk by joining forces during several confrontations with the Taliban.
Close to the confrontations. Co-director Michael McEvoy has his own background as an officer in Helmud, where he worked for nine months to strengthen relations between the British and Afghan forces. He debuted as a documentary filmmaker with this film. Together with the more experienced documentary Saeed Taji Farouky, who is also the film's main photographer, he has come close to the soldiers on the hill. It is noted that they have in-depth knowledge of this environment. In addition, the director duo has obviously put themselves at great risk by joining forces during several confrontations with the Taliban, where McEvoy is in charge of audio recording, while Taji Farouk handles the camera. It is then also these extremely dramatic scenes that do Count Spring Not to Come This Year into a really strong movie experience.
No clear answers. Count Spring Not to Come This Year does not directly address the former presence of international military per se, but is at least no confirmation that they withdrew at the right time. The film is also no uncritical tribute to the ISAF-trained Afghan soldiers, although their attempts to deal with the chaotic and difficult situation are definitely portrayed with respect.
Saeed Taji Farouky and Michael McEvoy do not come up with any clear answers to this film, but provide a close-up and alarming portrayal of Helmut Province's "post ISAF" – and in doing so, they pose some timely questions about our and other countries' participation in war.
This is an abridged version of a text printed in Ny Tid on June 3, 2015, and which we have brought out again in connection with Tell Spring Not to Come This Year being shown on Film fra Sør in October. The full text can be read at nytid.no.
Huser is a film critic in Ny Tid.
alekshuser@ gmail.com.
