Adapted from a podcast, this animated film highlights the daily lives of two young women after the Taliban came to power.
It is a particularly poignant story, in direct contact with a sad chapter that Afghanistan is going through, that the animated documentary traces Inside Kabulbroadcast Wednesday March 8 at 11:35 p.m. on France 5. Made from a podcast broadcast on France Inter, this film traces the parallel destiny of two young Afghan women whose lives change when the Taliban come to power in August 2021.
Through their sound testimony, collected for a year and a half by journalist Caroline Gillet, we discover the life in Kabul of Raha and Marwa (their first names have been changed). These two friends recount their daily lives, their torments as well as their concern at finding themselves in a country they no longer recognize. This vocal correspondence is the backbone of this animated documentary, co-directed by Caroline Gillet and Denis Walgenwitz, and put into images by the Afghan graphic designer and artist-painter based in Paris Kubra Khademi.
“I couldn’t take my body without my soul”
If Raha, 21, decides to stay with her parents in the Afghan capital when the Taliban arrive, her friend Marwa, 23, leaves her country and her family with her husband with a heavy heart. “I couldn’t take my body without my soul“, she sadly delivers in a voice note addressed to Caroline Gillet. They manage to take a plane to Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) and join a refugee camp there. While he spends most of the time locked up in a small bedroom, the couple is plagued by nostalgia, anguish and boredom, waiting to find out in which country they will finally be able to put their suitcases.
For her part, Raha lost her job at the very beginning of the Taliban’s reign, as did all the members of her family. She spends most of her time locked up in her house, even if she sometimes braves the dangers of the outside to grant herself a few outings in the streets of Kabul.
After several months without activity, Raha finally manages to find a job. But everything collapsed five months later, when an explosion sounded near his offices. His father, worried, asks him like his employer not to go to work anymore. “The boss emailed us, telling us we couldn’t work there anymore because of security issues. We were just two female colleagues with more than 150 male employees, and they only told the two of us that they could no longer take responsibility for our security”, reacts the young woman. “I felt so disappointed with everything. I really don’t know how to tell my family about it who were so happy that at least me, [je retrouve] work.”
“All we have left fits in two backpacks”
While Raha is devastated by the loss of her job, Marwa learns that she will finally be able to leave the Abu Dhabi refugee camp. “We received our tickets today for Germany. (…) We’re gonna have our own house (…) I’m so happy ! I’m dancing there, except there’s no music”, enthuses the refugee. “And now, that’s all we have left… It fits in two backpacks. It reminds me of everything we left behind. Our home, our business, but also our memories, our land. Now I understand what this war is costing, what it feels like.”
If the future seems to smile to Marwa and her husband, who fly away towards more lenient skies in Europe, that of Raha darkens more every day, as her country sinks into obscurantism. The two friends, who continue to regularly send their sound notes to Caroline Gillet, have promised to meet one day, somewhere…
The documentary Inside Kabul, directed by Caroline Gillet and Denis Walgenwitz, is broadcast Wednesday March 8 at 11:35 p.m. on France 5 and is visible from 6 p.m. on France.tv