Beautiful Australian film depicts Afghanistan in a new light

FILM
JIRGA ★★★★
(M) Selected cinemas (78 minutes)

Jirga.

Jirga.

Every now and again, someone makes a film in circumstances that are hard to believe. Jirga is one such film.

Benjamin Gilmour, who made Son of a Lion, is a Sydney paramedic and filmmaker with a strange combination of talents: he’s very passionate about trying to make a better world. A little redemptive perhaps, being the son of an Anglican preacher, but crazy brave.

Sam Smith, left, plays an Australian soldier in Afghanistan.

Sam Smith, left, plays an Australian soldier in Afghanistan.

Maybe the paramedic work fuels that desire to patch up the world, because that’s what Jirga is: the story of an Australian soldier, played by Sam Smith, who goes back to a village in Afghanistan to atone for his sins. Three years earlier, he'd killed a man who stepped out of a doorway during a night raid. The man’s wife and son had dragged his lifeless body back into their house and the Australian soldiers moved on – except that Mike Wheeler (Smith) can not.

Here’s the crazy part. They shot this breathtaking-to-look-at film in Afghanistan, under the radar, in some dangerous locations, using a video camera that Gilmour bought in a shopping mall in Pakistan. He and Smith were due to make a film in northern Pakistan with a decent budget and official backing but the government pulled the plug, the backer pulled out and Smith and Gilmour were left hanging. No money, no movie.

Gilmour paints the non-actor locals in a positive light.

Gilmour paints the non-actor locals in a positive light.

They decided to wing it and cross into Afghanistan anyway, with help from friends.

Sam Smith is superb in his concentration and intensity.

Gilmour learned how to use the camera by watching YouTube. You’d never know. His compositions and framing are excellent, mostly because he locks off the camera and sets it running in stunning mountain locations – nothing but sky, rocks and an increasingly lost Wheeler, carrying a bag full of money across lands controlled by the Taliban.

Some of the scenes are reminiscent of the film Paris, Texas.

Some of the scenes are reminiscent of the film Paris, Texas.

These scenes reminded me of Paris, Texas. They are elemental, powerful, and give the film room to breathe. Smith is superb in his concentration and intensity. We don’t know quite what is driving this man to take these risks. The Taliban fighters who take him prisoner wonder the same thing.

It’s a fine film, even without the backstory. Gilmour shows a real empathy with the Afghani non-actors. Their character and traditions are part of the subject, and both are surprising. We get a sense of the depth of their indomitability, even their kindness. Sure, there’s wishful thinking in the way Gilmour depicts them, but that’s allowed.

Jirga.

Jirga.

An alternative view of these parts was overdue, given the way the American cinema depicts them. Sometimes it takes a little wishful thinking to make us see more clearly. I doubt an Australian soldier would do what Wheeler sets out to do, especially one who knew the risks, but surely that’s part of the point.

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