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Washington Report, July 2006, pages 67-68 Waging Peace “The Beauty Academy of Kabul” Documentary Screened in DC
AFGHAN IMMIGRANTS came from all over the national capital area to watch “The Beauty Academy of Kabul.” The documentary opened April 7 to a full house at the E Street Theater in Washington, DC, with director/producer Liz Mermin on hand for a question-and-answer discussion. The film, about a group of American hairdressers who head to Afghanistan to open the country’s first post-Taliban beauty school documents the distressing and often humorous ways in which women with very different experiences, backgrounds and perspectives can be so far apart in their needs and expectations. The three American women hairdressers and their consultants came to Kabul to open a beauty school in Afghanistan in 2003, after the U.S. invasion. According to stylist Terri Grauel, “Beauty Without Borders” was born to spread democracy in Afghanistan “one head at a time.” Vogue editor Anna Wintour rallied the beauty industry and raised funds for the project, while Clairol, and M.A.C. donated hair products and styling tools. Not only did the Americans begin their work in dire conditions, but to their dismay the donated products that were sent from New York were old and rusty. Even the scissors were meant for paper, not hair. The Afghan immigrants in attendance were not very amused by the 74-minute film, and fired tough questions at Mermin following the screening. Noting how the American women were horrified by the state of hairdressing in Kabul—as “They found Kabul’s salons lacked basic safety,” and discovered that their Afghan students “don’t have any technique whatsoever”—one viewer asked whether the hairdressers were aware of the situation in Afghanistan. Several Afghan women were enraged by the scene in which a 16-year-old Afghan girl talks privately about loving a young man for more than five years. In the documentary, the young girl whispers while alone, without her mom present, about her fears of being uncovered and having to pay a dear price. An audience member reminded the producers that the girl may still pay for such a disclosure with “her life.” The Afghan Americans questioned whether it was necessary to air the young girl’s whispers. Others informed Mermin that the American women in the film were completely out of touch with reality. They described their advice to stressed Afghan women to “close your eyes and take a breath” as absurd. Leaving the theater, Amy Osborne commented that during the film it was apparent that there were many opportunities for real dialogue between the American and Afghan women. “Regrettably,” she said, “the Americans chose to limit their exchanges to tint and color.” When the Washington Report asked Liz Mermin about the reaction of the viewers to her decision to broadcast the young girl’s secrets, she said, “I have wondered about the wisdom of that decision. We thought at the time no Afghans will see the movie, it will be shown so far away from Afghanistan. We did not even think about DVDs.” In the opinion of Afghan immigrant Najeeb Hajji, the movie clearly depicts American naivete. “I am astounded that American editors and business men and women believe that opening a hairdresser school for a few Afghan women will change Afghanistan,” he said. “So much money and energy was wasted on a project that ended when the Americans departed.” Najeeb’s wife Suraya agreed. “Movies sometime tell more about those behind the lens than those filmed in front of the lens,” she observed. “This project could have been a great idea, if they were to teach skills that are useful such as nursing, dental or medical aid, art or sewing.” Their 18-year-old daughter, Enayat, told the Washington Report that “the movie was most interesting when it showed Afghan women with their friends and family and in their homes. The film offers American viewers a rare glimpse into Afghan women’s lives as they struggle to overcome the harshness of war and their efforts to bring a better life to their children.” Acknowledging that “The plot and the project objectives may be frivolous,” Mermin said she went along with it because it seemed such an interesting subject. She told the Washington Report that she knew little about Afghanistan, and, when asked whether any of the American hairdressers had read anything about Afghanistan before arriving in Kabul, shook her head and said “no.” “So much American good will is wasted because of Americans’ inability to see people for whom they are,” Hajji told the Washington Report. “They project so much of their own cultural biases on others and miss the opportunity to create sustainable good will.“ In the end, it may be that “American Beauty Academy” is more of a documentary about the American volunteers than about the Afghan women they hoped to convert to democracy and freedom. —Mai Abdul Rahman |
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