Out Of The Ashes - review

For those of you that don't know me, I'm more than a little mad for cricket. Love the stuff. I can't think of many better ways to enjoy a day off than positioning myself on the sofa in front of a riveting test match. That's why Metro's film editor Larushka asked me to review this film for the paper today.

If you're remotely interested in Afghanistan, but hate cricket, this is still very, very worth watching.

Out Of The Ashes (D)
FOUR STARS
Bungalow Town

‘There are lots of problems in the world today…. The solution to the problems is cricket,’ says Taj Malik, the avuncular coach of Afghanistan’s cricket team.

So begins Out Of The Ashes, a heart-warming documentary, following the team’s remarkable metamorphosis from rag-tag cricket-nuts playing for fun, to professional (ish) unit playing in April 2010’s T20 World Cup.

Adventures abroad for qualifiers in genteel Jersey, metropolitan Argentina and sleepy Tanzania are juxtaposed with lingering shots of the majestic Hindukush mountain range, Afghani kids playing cricket on rubble-strewn wasteland and talking heads.

Players’ child-like wonder at swimming in the sea for the first time and eye-popping reaction to witnessing tango and the fortunes of eternal optimist Malik and his merry band of men, counterbalance bleak truth – ‘I used to come to this stadium to watch football, I didn’t come to the Taliban’s public executions,’ says one player.

Out Of The Ashes is not only a gentle, powerful statement on sport’s unique ability to lift spirits amidst grim realities, but also a poignant testament to the fortitude and pride of ordinary Afghans getting on with their lives in the face of relentless devastation.