Jul 30 2006
Smiling in a War Zone
Recently I saw a documentary called ‘Smiling in a War Zone’. In this video we follow the Danish visual artist Simone Aaberg on her trip to Afghanistan. From the money she has saved from selling her art, she has bought an old Piper Cup and in a newspaper she has read about an Afghan girl who wants to become a pilot and of course she wants to help.
So we are looking at her trip in the little Piper Cup through airspace in a warzone. I would say take a regular 747 or a boat, but this woman is an idealist and is drawn towards danger for the better cause. A psychologist would probably diagnose this as the typical behavior of a person coming from a family with overprotective parents, but hey, I have done some really stupid things in my life with parents who have done a great job convincing me that they did not care if I would live or die, so who am I to sneer at this?
Sitting on my couch it is clear to me from the start where this documentary will lead up to. We are about to see how Afghan women, or Islamic women in general, are not allowed to make their own decisions, and although we have seen a lot of that in the last decade, I am not the kind of man who easily zaps away from a serious documentary done by a fellow visual artist.
So the first part of the documentary has this cosy feeling of an old Jacques Cousteau documentary. (..and now we ahre entering zee most dangerussh zhone, and so on. You will get my drift. Nice TV if you are sitting on your behind eating potato chips.)
The longer this Odyssey takes, the more I start to like Aaberg with her light blue shawl draped in Islamic fashion. Whatever they say about Islamic dress codes, those shawls do a hell of a lot more for wrinkly faces than plastic surgery has ever done for Western women. Aaberg really looks good to me in her Piper Cup.
Finally she arrives safely in Afghanistan against all odds. Faryal, the Afghan girl looks 16 to me and is very enthusiastic about becoming a pilot. My first thought is: if my 16 year old daughter would want to become a pilot in one of the most dangerous air zones of the world, I would certainly forbid that, just like I told my son at age 16 that I would accept any decision he would make regarding his future; with the exception of a career in the army.
The parents of Faryal think differently. They just sit there and nod as Aaberg starts a third degree on the poor girl. ‘I have to be really sure that you can make your own decisions, before we go up in the air!’ Yes, says the girl and again the mother nods. Are we going to look at something unexpected for a change, I was asking myself.
No, we weren’t. Just when I returned from the bathroom, Aaberg was sitting in Faryals room – for the first time without the Islamic shawl – and with a grim face she is putting a sickening guilt trip on the little girl. ‘We were all there at the airport, 55 of us, and you did *not* show up?’ The anger on the face of Aaberg almost looks like the anger of a deceived lover.
What happened? Well, Faryas uncle got sick and she had to take care of him. That answer is not good enough for Aaberg. Another third degree follows and yes, finally, the girl admits that her uncle is opposed to her wishes to become a pilot.
Good thinking of that uncle. My conclusion: there are some civilized beings left on this planet after all.