At Five in the Afternoon

Samira Makhmalbaf casts a look at the plight of women in post-Taliban Afghanistan and the result is as bold, visually striking and uneven as one might expect. Centred on a teenage schoolgirl who dreams of becoming president of her country, notwithstanding the widespread resistance among men and older women to the idea of female education, freedom and power, the film assembles a series of tableaux (as opposed to a fully worked-through story) to explore the theme of bravery and determination in conflict with poverty, ignorance, intolerance and sheer confusion. A charming (if poorly located) comedy sequence with a French soldier is perhaps an index of both the film's funding and its target audience; the darker scenes give the impression of being more heartfelt, though some are awkwardly handled.