Hollywoodgate – a fly on the wall view of the Taliban air force (Queen’s Film Theatre until Thursday 22 August)

When the US troops pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021, Taliban forces moved in behind them to take over their former bases. One such site was in Kabul, dubbed Hollywoodgate, suspected of being a former CIA base of operations.

While some military vehicles and equipment were destroyed or put beyond use, lots of other paraphernalia – “an enormous treasure” – was left behind when the US troops withdrew.

Egyptian documentarian Ibrahim Nash’at negotiated access – insane access – to film a Taliban group as they tried to bring the disabled Black Hawk helicopters back to life. The deal was that any person could be filmed, but only a couple of specific individuals could talk on camera. Capturing footage of the aircraft was meant to be off limits, but Nash’at studiously ignored that rule.

“Why is he filming us?” asks one soldier. The explanation comes back: “He is making a documentary, like a film with real people”. Then his radio mic picks up the loaded remark: “If his intentions are bad, he will die soon”. A deadly mix of propaganda and power.

The real answer to the soldier’s question may be that that the Taliban reckoned he was harmless and compliant, and his film might provide a publicity coup. They may have thought that the filmmaker was keen but vulnerable. That they could run rings around him. Was it a naïve decision by an egotistical leader? Or a strategic gamble?

Nash’at captures the innumeracy and illiteracy of those in charge. He portrays a leader – Mawlawi Mansour, head of the air force – whose eyes light up like a child in a toy shop at Christmas when he sees a running machine and issues the order to “send one of those to my home”. He also gives a sense of the incompetence, medicine the US left behind goes out of date before they get round to using it. And while the Afghan citizens outside the base are not meant to feature in his filming, Nash’at manages to give a sense of the general plight in a chaotic country.

The widescale ineptitude is accompanied by some engineering success. Yet there are still changes of military personnel before the film ends. And having chanced his arm for a year, Nash’at flees the country when he realises that his generous access might be brutally curtailed.

“What I tried to show is what I saw” explains the filmmaker.

Over 90 minutes, Hollywoodgate portrays a military force with little training, more used to scrappy fighting, but not transforming into an army, or in this case, an air force. Everyone is on edge, fearful of being demoted or disposed of with the flick of a higher-up’s wrist. Much like the general population who have been living for years – decades – in fear of local and international forces supposedly fighting for their rights and freedoms.

First shown in Belfast as part of the DocsIreland festival, Hollywoodgate was one of my personal highlights. It now has a UK release and is being screened in the Queen’s Film Theatre until Thursday 22 August. It’s a brief glimpse into a corner of the world that is rarely seen up close by those not living there. Worth a trip to the cinema to be a fly on the wall.

 

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