Buzkashi Boys
Will Ross

Set in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, Buzkashi Boys is about the friendship of two Afghani boys who seek a better life. Rafi is the youngest son in a family who for generations have been blacksmiths. Ahmad is a street rat, begging and peddling incense to ward off evil spirits, trying to scrape by without a family of his own. Much like children in the United States, Rafi is resistant to his father’s persistent efforts to push him into the family business. Both boys are enthralled with the Buzkashi riders, these mythical men on horseback playing a Central Asian take on polo with a dead goat in lieu of a ball. Ahmed decides to steal a horse one day and, when he is thrown from it and killed, Rafi finds himself back in front of his father, dejectedly having realized that there is nothing else for him in life. A depressing film with little joy, the plot meshes perfectly with the bleak landscape of Kabul and imparts on the viewer a sense of how depressing Afghanistan’s situation truly is.

Buzkashi Boys, is a movie that could be set in any of the neighboring countries save for a few clues hidden throughout the movie. US and NATO forces do not appear in any of the scenes but a derelict palace plays an central role throughout the movie which, when Ahmed says, “Who cares whose palace this was,” reflects an air of nonchalance that can only be seen in Afghanistan, a country who has seen empires come and go and has remained in a perpetual state of war for decades. While other Central Asian countries have seen their fare share of conflict, none compare to the levels Afghanistan has seen. Yet there are aspects of the film that are endemic only to the Central Asian region. The essence peddled by Ahmad as a way of warding off evil spirits and the importance of the Buzkashi scarf that Rafi ties around the palace roof following Ahmad’s death are evidence of the “layering of peoples” in the region, where cultures and traditions are interspersed amongst modern Islamic ones.

That the war is not featured at all is strong reminder that for most Afghans, many of whom have seen Soviet, Taliban, and American flags flying over Kabul, their daily lives change very little. Even religion plays a backstage role throughout the film, mentioned only briefly in dialogue and most prominent during the brief funeral for Ahmed by Rafi and his father. This is in stark contrast to the portrayal of Afghanistan by Western media. The focus on the Taliban and Al Qaeda overshadows the truly tragic story of the majority of Afghans who are just trying to survive. The film’s bleak landscape begs the viewer to wonder whether Kabul looked that bad 60 years ago, before intervention by any of the major powers. With very little having been accomplished in Afghanistan and US/NATO presence coming to a close, will Ahmed’s life even change?