Kabul Between Prayers: Venice Film Review

With its focus on a Taliban soldier, Kabul Between Prayers is a bleak but beautiful documentary on the current situation in Afghanistan.

At the same time, we see 14-year-old Rafi, his younger brother, who is leaving his childhood behind to enter a military and radicalised world. 

The camera and overall tone of the documentary remain nonjudgmental from the very first scene, when a medium close-up introduces us to the protagonist as he prays for an Islamic State and suicide bombers. The film brings us close to Samin through the camera angle and specific shot used, despite the uncomfortable subject matter. Throughout the entire movie,  Kabul Between Prayers is impartial, almost to a fault, for those in the audience who may prefer documentaries to take a clear stand on the subject matter they are portraying. 

Kabul Between Prayers attempts to offer a window into everyday life in Afghanistan today without any judgment. Instead, the documentary is moved simply by a desire to get to know its protagonist, a Taliban soldier, as a human being. Samin is not the villain in this narrative; he is just a person who, much like his brother, has fallen victim to a radical and dangerous ideology. This perspective is incredibly refreshing when we look at the wider discourse on the Talibans in general and creates an even more interesting outlook for the viewers who are left to draw their own conclusions based on what they have seen. 

Children also play a significant role in this documentary, making for one of the most interesting elements of the film as we see them becoming soldiers at a very young age and leaving their childhood innocence behind. I almost wish that Kabul Between Prayers had focused a little more on Rafi and his friends in order to thoroughly explore the effects of such a militarised institution on children from a young age. Instead, Aboozar Amini’s film struggles to put together the two different narrative strands and the different types of documentary footage. The talking head style interviews are equally fascinating, but also not as well integrated within the wider narrative and could easily belong to a different movie. 

This bleak portrayal of everyday life in Afghanistan is framed in the beautiful landscape of the country. While children are learning how to shoot, they are surrounded by stunning sights of Kabul and the surrounding areas, making the documentary not only more realistic, as it actually pays attention to its setting, but also more heartbreaking. The mountains and trees of Afghanistan remain untouched by the fanaticism that overtook some of its citizens under the Taliban rule. 

Overall, Kabul Between Prayers is an impressive and ambitious documentary that delivers a very powerful narrative. Through its intimate shots, the film invites us to consider a new perspective by taking a look at the life of Samin as a husband, brother, and Taliban soldier, while also taking the audience to Afghanistan with its detailed and beautiful depiction of the country’s landscape. 

Kabul Between Prayers had its World Premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 3, 2025, Out of Competition.