The Afghan film-maker Shahrbanoo Sadat is a warm and approachable presence as writer, director and star of No Good Men – a tale of Afghanistan’s women in 2021 as they are about to be surrendered to the Taliban with the withdrawal of US troops. It’s an urgent tale, which incidentally closes with a fervent finale reminiscent of Casablanca – although the central turnaround in the male lead’s heart, gallantly disproving the title, is maybe a bit smooth.
Sadat is Naru, a woman effectively separated from her creep of a husband, burdened with sole charge of their son as well as being the only earner. She is a camera operator at a Kabul TV station; she has liberated friends with western attitudes – one cheerfully gives her a vibrator as a present. Naru is landed with working on sappy, soft-centred shows – problem-page magazine programmes where women are patronised by sexist dopes.
