War And Love in Kabul
A film by Helga Reidemeister
Synopsis
Hossein and Shaima have loved each other since childhood. As
teenagers they were separated by war. They meet again in Kabul
in the late 1990s. Poverty forces Hossein to fi ght in the war. A shell
splinter leaves him a paraplecig. Shortly afterwards, Shaima is sold
in marriage to a man 40 years her senior. Shaima, who is the man’s
fourth wife, falls pregnant. But Shaima’s husband still owes half the
dowry, and so her father brings her back into the constraining
partriarchal fold of the family, where she lives today with her
fi ve-year-old daughter.
This situation doesn’t prevent the two lovers from seeing each other
as much as possible – even though this means going against their
families’ hard and fast rules. They both dream of living together
in peace. Caught on the horns of a dilemma, and in constant fear
of revenge on the part of the male members of both families who
adhere to the harsh tribal laws handed down from the Middle Ages,
Hossein and Shaima struggle under the most diffi cult circumstances
imaginable to hold on to their love.
This fi lm describes the infringement of a taboo, the outcome of
which is still uncertain. In an environment where war and want have
dealt heavy blows on compassion and humanity and the family is
the only remaining social bon, the chances of personal happiness
are very slim indeed.
