San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle

Presented without preachiness or affectation, Kandahar is a short, matter-of-fact visit to hell.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Sean Axmaker

Makhmalbaf's astounding and haunting imagery tells a story of devastation, desperation and poverty.

Portland Oregonian

The director manages to maintain a steady streak of grim humor. Extreme repression can be bleakly funny in its idiocy, when viewed from a distance.

Portland Oregonian by Staff (Not Credited)

The director manages to maintain a steady streak of grim humor. Extreme repression can be bleakly funny in its idiocy, when viewed from a distance.

Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas

This remarkably revealing and timely film, in which the depiction of pain and sorrow is suffused with a sense of beauty and a graceful, flowing style, more than lives up to glowing advance notices.

Washington Post by Desson Thomson

Though it might lack in Hollywood production values, it overflows with moral impact.

Rolling Stone by Peter Travers

You won't forget this film -- it's devastating.

Austin Chronicle by Marrit Ingman

The story is simple and true-to-life, and the technique is naturalistic, using nonprofessional actors, photography that emphasizes the characters' environment, and deliberate narrative pacing that mimics real-time events.

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

Kandahar does not provide deeply drawn characters, memorable dialogue or an exciting climax. Its traffic is in images.

Charlotte Observer by Lawrence Toppman

Kandahar found itself in real-life controversy last December, when one of its actors was accused of murder.

Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington

Watching this film wakes you up; it is a window on an Iran and an Afghanistan we should have taken account of long ago -- seen though a master's eye, felt through a poet's touch.

Variety by Deborah Young

A visually exalting, emotionally horrifying view of Afghanistan under the Taliban regime.

Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt

While it's often harsh in style and melancholy in subject, Kandahar taps into veins of humor and compassion as well.

Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman

With its lyrical vision of oppression, looks, if anything, milder now than it might have before the war.

New York Post by Jonathan Foreman

Unfortunately, you are often distractingly aware that you are watching re-enactments of real events.

The New York Times by A.O. Scott

Kandahar feels like a Magritte painting rendered in sand tones, and your eyes are drawn to the screen. There aren't enough of these moments, though, and Mr. Makhmalbaf lessens their power by repeating them.