Documentary Analysis: Afghan Star

Afghan Star, the documentary follows four contestants of the Afghan Star TV show: Hameed, Setara, Rafi, and Lema. Afghan Star is said to be the Afghanistan’s version of the “American Idol format”. This show not only gave a new opportunity at democracy but also let the voices of the Afghan people be heard by casting votes on their choice of singer. Afghanistan has rich culture: music, religion, art, films – however, with the control of the Taliban, it resulted the country to go backwards and prevented higher level of education and art. It was a crime to dance, listen to music or watch television. Afghanistan has made tremendous strides as a country since then and the show, Afghan Star was one of them; being the country’s first televised talent competition. The country of Afghanistan is comprised of different
The contestants varied from personality and cultural beliefs, despite coming from the same country. I admired the ladies of the show the most. I admired how Lema connected with God, respected herself through her strong cultural beliefs and used her past to help her succeed. She is a Pashtun and was deemed to be crazy for going on the show and leaving for this idea of “democracy.” In the documentary, she stated “Because of poverty, I have struggled. Some people need struggle for a good life. Because of poverty, I got here.” I found this quote to be admirable and I commend her for taking the ‘not so good part’ of her life and turn it into a positive. At times, however, she seemed to be very brain-washed in terms of confining her musical abilities to the “Islamic Way.” She looked down on Setara for her dancing and did not approve of Sentara embracing Afghanistan’s changes towards the arts. Contrast to Lema, I really adored Setara. Setara was incredibly open-minded, independent and seemed to have a deep relationship with music. She stated, “I follow my emotions. Music is the language of