On Sunday 12th September, along with over 150 people, I was invited to the Cineworld cinema in Bolton to watch a screening of local boy David WHITNEY's first full length film "Kandahar Break". It was a brilliant experience to see the film on Bolton's largest cinema screen and was followed by a question and answer session with Mr Whitney and Director of photography
Russell Nabb. 15 interesting questions were asked before time ran out, each meticulously answered by either film maker. They gave the audience a clear insight into the problems facing the intrepid film-makers who's film was so controversial in the land of filming that the crew themselves were fired on resulting in the wounding of 2 crew members (not fatally I was relieved to hear,) and then the impending need to swiftly leave the country.
Mainly filmed in Pakistan, the film touches on many issues which are completely out of the comfort zone of many British citizens, whatever ethnic background. Set in Afghanistan in 1999, the film centres on a British mine clearance firm employed by an oil company working alongside the Taliban government. Tense moments reminiscent of 'HURT LOCKER' begin the film which develops into a touching story of forbidden love as two individual worlds, totally alien to each other, and the British and Afghan cultures, come together so ferociously and clash in a story of contradictions, interpretations and misunderstandings of which a certain William Shakespeare would have been proud. Kandahar Break moves swiftly in to a tense escape movie with its fair share of plot twists and surprisingly (and most welcome) a few moments of light relief in the form of the freedom fighter Omar Baloch. The audience is continually asked to judge their own attitudes and preconceptions to the cultural differences portrayed in the film right up to the final climatic scene. Enough of the critical film-flam! Kandahar Break is exciting, poignant, cruel, controversial and beautifully filmed in locations far removed from anywhere in the UK. Shaun Dooley in the lead role is extremely convincing in his portrayal of love-torn mine clearance engineer, Richard Lee, alongside his beautiful co-star Tatmain ul Qulb. The role of Omar Baloch played by famous Pakistan actor Hameed Sheik is also a delight to watch and I suspect is a nod to some of Directors cinematic influences. Local casting gives the authentic feel to the film which in my opinion is well worth a view. Sadly, national cinema release has passed this film by, but if you get a chance to see it at an individual screening then do so. However, the most obvious way to see David Whitney's first full length film is to buy/rent the DVD/Blu-ray which was released nationally on Monday the 6th of September. Let's hope that Kandahar Break is the first of many films by this excellent new talent...David Whitney
Mainly filmed in Pakistan, the film touches on many issues which are completely out of the comfort zone of many British citizens, whatever ethnic background. Set in Afghanistan in 1999, the film centres on a British mine clearance firm employed by an oil company working alongside the Taliban government. Tense moments reminiscent of 'HURT LOCKER' begin the film which develops into a touching story of forbidden love as two individual worlds, totally alien to each other, and the British and Afghan cultures, come together so ferociously and clash in a story of contradictions, interpretations and misunderstandings of which a certain William Shakespeare would have been proud. Kandahar Break moves swiftly in to a tense escape movie with its fair share of plot twists and surprisingly (and most welcome) a few moments of light relief in the form of the freedom fighter Omar Baloch. The audience is continually asked to judge their own attitudes and preconceptions to the cultural differences portrayed in the film right up to the final climatic scene. Enough of the critical film-flam! Kandahar Break is exciting, poignant, cruel, controversial and beautifully filmed in locations far removed from anywhere in the UK. Shaun Dooley in the lead role is extremely convincing in his portrayal of love-torn mine clearance engineer, Richard Lee, alongside his beautiful co-star Tatmain ul Qulb. The role of Omar Baloch played by famous Pakistan actor Hameed Sheik is also a delight to watch and I suspect is a nod to some of Directors cinematic influences. Local casting gives the authentic feel to the film which in my opinion is well worth a view. Sadly, national cinema release has passed this film by, but if you get a chance to see it at an individual screening then do so. However, the most obvious way to see David Whitney's first full length film is to buy/rent the DVD/Blu-ray which was released nationally on Monday the 6th of September. Let's hope that Kandahar Break is the first of many films by this excellent new talent...David Whitney