Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

'Kandahar' Mirrors Real Life Experience of Female Star

Aired December 05, 2001 - 07:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: When it made its debut at last year's camp (ph) film festival, the independent film "Kandahar" was largely ignored. Well now the war in Afghanistan has stirred new interest in the movie called a powerful tale of love, sacrifice, and suffering under the Taliban regime. The story mirrors the real life experience of its female star.

(BEGIN MOVIE CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who is the boy? Do you know him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know him. He's my guide. I found him in a cemetery (ph). He was about the only person who agreed to bring me to Kandahar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God, this is dangerous.

(END MOVIE CLIP)

ZAHN: "Kandahar" opens in New York next week and goes nationwide in January and its star Nelofer Pazira joins me now. Good to have you with us. Welcome.

NELOFER PAZIRA, "KANDAHAR": Thank you.

ZAHN: Now as I understand it, the movie is suppose to in some ways mirror your real life. How so and provide people even more context we should make it clear that you and your family lived in Afghanistan until you were how old?

PAZIRA: I was 16.

ZAHN: You were 16.

PAZIRA: In 1989 we left the country and I left a very close childhood friend behind whom I've been in touch with and he was too hurt that I understood how the situation changed for people, especially for a woman in Afghanistan. And when she became depressed, and by 1998 and wanted to commit suicide, I went to the border to - the Iran-Afghan border to actually go inside Afghanistan to try to help her, and my attempt failed. So the story of the film is actually based on sort of my character - the Afghan who lived in Canada and is going back to try to rescue a sister in the film.

ZAHN: Describe to us what Dana's (ph) life was like and it continues to be like today.

PAZIRA: Obviously of course when the Taliban took control of the city, she was told that she was not allowed to go to work. So she stayed at home for many days and weeks and months, as it went by and nothing really changed. And over a period of two years time, she became absolutely depressed, and sort of resolved that there was no use for her to continue to live anymore. So that's sort of what went wrong with a lot of the women unfortunately under the, you know, the Taliban government.

And of course now with the end of the Taliban and with a lot of (INAUDIBLE) security on the ground, it doesn't seem to have much of a greater prospect, especially if there is not going to be, you know, possibility of a lasting peace, which is the biggest fear in the minds of many, many Afghan women, you know, including my own friend. I mean I have lost touch with her, but that unfortunately seems to be the problem.

ZAHN: So you tell your own personal story in the film. What is the other message of Kandahar? I know it's - there are some complicated messages, but highlight one of them for us this morning.

PAZIRA: One of them, of course, (INAUDIBLE) simple one is that war is destructive and the people of Afghanistan are absolutely sick and tired of it and they just - this is more like a cry for help and for peace. So that's the very strong message about you know the landmines because the country has 10 million landmines that are being injuring people everyday and ...

ZAHN: We just saw that scene where all these ...

(CROSSTALK)

PAZIRA: These are the men who are actually just going back to their fields and their farms and then they have been injured by the explosion of landmines and so their lives have been affected for the rest of their lives and landmines seems to be sort of a major scene in the film because you know it's one of those subjects that the world has completely forgotten about Afghanistan, and it affects both men and women's lives in the country.

ZAHN: You continue to work as a radio and TV journalist in Ottawa, Canada. That is where your family settled after you left Afghanistan. Do you have any plans to go back now?

PAZIRA: Obviously I feel it's a sense of purpose for me. If I feel that I can go back to Afghanistan where I feel we're in such a great need of helping the people to get education right now because we have got about two generations of Afghans growing up without any kind of education or access to it unfortunately. I would like to be able to go back and have a school and help the people. But at the moment I feel there is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding in the parts of the world about what Afghanistan is and what its people are actually about -- that I feel maybe I'm more useful to be here and try to bridge that kind of a, you know, sharing of experiences and understanding.

ZAHN: And is that the way you look at the release of "Kandahar" in many ways - that piece that will help better inform people about ...

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: ... what the reality is - life is like in Afghanistan.

(CROSSTALK)

PAZIRA: Because I feel that what is actually missing from the everyday coverage of Afghanistan in the news is that the real stories of real people. We see a lot of reduced (ph) pictures of black and white of the country and everything is just so much (INAUDIBLE) that on the political aspect where the economics, social, cultural you know problems of the country have never even been debated or discussed. And so I hope that "Kandahar" somehow will provide that kind of a contact that is missing from the general coverage of the news about Afghanistan.

ZAHN: And I know you certainly didn't want this attention surrounding the film, (INAUDIBLE) the war on terrorism. Nevertheless it is getting you lots of publicity. What is your expectation for the film?

PAZIRA: The expectation, I hope that a lot of people go see it and they take the message that we wish for them to take, which is a cry for help and sort of to look and say look there is a corner of the world, which is very much part of humanity and they have been suffering greatly for the past 24 years. And they need a break, and they need help, and we should understand their suffering to our own experiences as opposed to just putting a wall and sort of looking at them as the other.

And I think that's - I have - I feel that the film will be helpful in terms of also helping the people in this part of the world to get to know something about a country that they have heard about so much now for all the unfortunate reasons, but they may not have access to actually get to know it very well.

ZAHN: Once again the film opens in many places around the country this week. Nelofer Pazira, thank you very much for joining us this morning.

PAZIRA: Thank you.

ZAHN: Excuse me, the star of the film and also a woman who is actively involved in journalism where she practices from Ottawa. Again, thanks for your time, and I have just lost my voice. You may have to take me to (INAUDIBLE) here. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com