This weekend’s top story is that the academy-award-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence has produced a documentary called “Bread and Roses,” which tells the story of three Afghan women who fought back against the oppression of the Taliban rulers who seized power in their country in August 2021.
Lawrence and her team are showing the film at Cannes. Much of it was secretly filmed with covert cameras in the weeks following Kabul’s fall.
Long-time readers know that I have devoted a substantial portion of my newsletter to the situation in Afghanistan, including the unconscionable oppression of Afghan women. Most of these posts have been in the form of 60 special reports or “conversations” with a young friend of mine who is trapped in that country.
But I have accomplished virtually nothing in terms of having an impact on the crisis there, which is immensely frustrating to me. I’ve always believed that telling stories like these actually matters — that someone somewhere will hear them and take an action that will lead to another action. That somebody somewhere with influence will care.
But of course, I am simply a lone voice with a very small audience and no influence whatsoever over public policy or world affairs.
Jennifer Lawrence occupies a much more prominent position, but she too understands the challenge ahead for her film to matter.
"There's not an end to this story," she told BBC, "and you feel pretty much helpless when thinking about how to do anything about it. It's a hard thing to market."
At least she is trying and I honor her for that. In this matter, I consider her an ally, though we’ve never met. Maybe someday, somehow, one of us will achieve a breakthrough.
The Afghan people deserve that.
Read also: Chaotic Roads, Armed City —Afghan Report 60: Life under the Taliban
LINKS:
Jennifer Lawrence's secret filming in Afghanistan (BBC)
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