Is the blow-dryer mightier than the sword? In the oddball documentary "The Beauty Academy of Kabul," it might well be. Shot in 2003 after the Taliban had left, the movie chronicles the efforts of some women from America a couple of them born in Afghanistan and returning after decades to open a beauty school in a country where, until recently, a woman could be beaten for exposing an inch of skin on her arm or leg. No telling what the punishment for mascara might've been. Read the full review
Director: Liz Mermin
Starring: Mary MacMakin, Terri Grauel, Patricia O'Connor
Run time: 74 minutes
Release date: March 24, 2006
Rating: Not rated; contains references to war violence and images of guns.
On the web
Official movie site
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: B-
"These women's hearts are in the right place and so is the movie's."
Austin American-Statesman: 3 of 5 stars
"The opportunity to meet these women is the film's main draw. Not only do they offer a fresh account of their nation's long nightmare, giving first-person life to what most Americans know only from wartime news reports, they provide a glimpse of how a soul might survive such circumstances."
Copyright © 2009 Cox Ohio Publishing, Dayton, Ohio, USA. All rights reserved.
By using this site, you accept the terms of our Visitors Agreement and Privacy Policy. You may wish to note our other business policies.