Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

emirbelusi It's a great movie. Its story is nice and real. Kandahar Break in its attempt to highlight Afghanistan as a brutal place before British and American troops removed the Taliban leaders. And it also shows Baloch freedom fighters of Baluchistan struggle for an independent Baluchistan.Afghanistan as a place under Taliban rulers may no longer exist, but Kandahar Break attempts to take us back there with a story about love, loss and revenge. Rather than a film about war, it's more about a man's personal journey and what happens when he finds love in a place which forbids it. Tatmain Ul Qulb as Jamilah, the woman he falls in love with, is beautiful and captivating. Her time on screen though limited to flashbacks is enough to make her presence felt throughout. As a love story, I would have liked to have seen it from her perspective and to learn why she would risk everything for an affair with Richard.As an outsider in Afghanistan, Richard has no idea about the rules, customs and the religion of the people there. As he makes no attempt to learn about any of these, he finds himself singled out as an infidel. When met with hostility he protests that he is English and pleads for them to speak English with him. I've come to know from several of my own travels that by learning even a few words of a country's language, you are more likely to receive a warmer reception than by not doing so. Richard's affair with Jamilah follows a similar pattern, and though we see why he would fall in love with her, I found it hard to see why she would reciprocate.

Del Brindle 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

M_o_u_s_a Again, as some of the movies that include Muslims did, this movie has a lot of misconceptions and fallacies about Islam - the biggest one is the center of the drama when a "Sheik" saw a Muslim woman kissing a western man, so the quick decision made is to punish her with death, and him also in a later stage - This has NO relation with Islam, and Islam certainly wouldn't call for a death punishment for a kiss! A lot of fallacies that contributes to make the image about Islam as the religion of a bunch of crazy bad-looking dirty men enslaving their women, and killing anyone they want with permission from their God - Which is a completely wrong image, and it's actually the opposite.In the movie, a man killed another because that other man was seriously injured and calling for help - In Islam, taking a sole with such no-reasoning is a shame ... It always promotes saving lives even if it's a pet's life.If you're looking for some drama in a strange world, watch this movie, but don't take your info about Islam out of it.

thedarkpoet Going into Kandahar Break, I was not too sure what to expect, but coming out of the film, it's clear to say what the film is. It's a harsh look at the realities of a giant culture clash. Its a drama, centred around a love story, set in Afghanistan. The characters are really solid in this film, Shaun Dooley who plays Richard Lee, a clearance engineer who returns to Afghanistan shortly after he death of his ex-wife in Africa, is really something special. He comes across as something of a excellent TV actor, with leading man qualities, its going to be nice to see him do some interesting roles in the future. Dean Andrews plays the other British citizen in the film, Steve Delamore, who almost steals each scene he is in.The other actors, mainly played by local actors of Afghanistan are also very good, with much praise going to Hameed Sheikh who may not have the biggest part in the film, but has one of my personal favourite characters in the film.The directing of the film was pretty good, it does at some times feel a bit like a TV movie, but a good TV movie. David Whitney has certainly come from a TV background, but is certainly heading in the right direction to be a good feature director. The camera is still when it needs to be still and hectic when it needs to be hectic.Overall the full film is pretty pacey, clocking in at 94 minutes, the time flies by and at no point does the film drag. If you get the chance, and enjoy a good solid drama, Kandahar Break is a film you should be watching.