There have been a number of movies made on the Second World War, with some of them such as ‘Deer Hunter’, Apocalypse Now’, ‘Platoon’, and recently ‘Forrest Gump’ having attained iconic status. A lot of these movies have now focused on the severe trauma of battle, with the physical and mental affect on the people involved. Many of them have been very brutal in their depiction of the actual war scenes, and were far from the jingoistic patriotic depiction of war (and this could be because of the Vietnam War being a very controversial war, with opinion being divided on whether this war was even necessary). Movies made on the second world war have not faced this moral dilemma, and hence have not focused so much on the trauma (with even the ultra-realistic movie such as ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and the ‘Thin Red Line’ showing the horror of war, but staying away from a mental deterioration of the soldiers involved).

Patton was a movie made on a heavily decorated (and highly controversial) soldier of the War, General George S Patton (Wikipedia) (played by George C. Scott). General Patton was a major architect in the victory for the US Army in the Second World War, with his passion for discipline, and his fast movement through Europe after the Normandy Landings. He also played a key role in the missions in Morocco expanding to other parts of North Africa, and then Sicily. Another of his great missions was in deceiving the Germans about the actual landing of the Allied forces in Europe, with the ‘Operation Fortitude’ being designed to convince the Germans that Patton was the head of an army that would attack through the French town of Calais. They were successful in this deception, with the Germans being unconvinced of the landing at Normandy.
Patton was a person who was not very well liked by his troops, with his emphasis on discipline, and a strong focus on the mission. He was not particularly fond of humour directed against him either. However, he was a General whom the Germans had feared because of his strong and pretty effective tactics; his focus on making the breakout in the push into France and then Germany in a fast and very mobile manner (they were only stopping because they ran out of fuel) prevented the Germans from being able to recoup.
The film starts off with a resounding speech by George Scott with an massive American Flag behind him; this opening speech and the entire shot has become iconic. The movie fairly accurately captures the nature of the General as we get to see the military life-story of the General in the War, with his successes in North Africa, and then in Sicily. After getting into trouble due to having slapped a soldier (and with Eisenhower forcing him to apologize for that incident), he comes back into action after the Normandy landing. The movie also captures the rapid downfall of this celebrated soldier after that, when his biases against the Russians (although his opinion of what would happen in East Europe after the Soviets took control came true), his tolerating of the ex-Nazis in German areas under his control, and his outbursts subsequently led to his losing his position.
The movie was a success, and also won 7 Oscars:
- Best Actor (George Scott refused to accept, considering the awards to be a meat parade of actors)
- Best Art Direction-Set Decoration,
- Best Director,
- Best Film Editing,
- Best Picture,
- Best Sound and
- Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced
Nominations:
- Best Cinematography,
- Best Effects,
- Special Visual Effects and
- Best Music, Original Score

The movie was directed by . It stars George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates, and Karl Michael Vogler. It was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, and was based on a script by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North.

Mighty strange name for a movie, and one would wonder about what the name means .. the name actually is meant to represent ‘death’, as in the final sleep. In 1939, Raymond Chandler wrote a book where he created the famous detective persona of Philip Marlowe, and set it against a mystery involving deception, revenge, many people betraying each other, and an overall complex story line. It was but natural for such a story to be made into a movie, and this piece of fiction was made into 2 movies, one made in 1945, and the other made in 1978. The movie, released in 1946, starred the famous stars, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall as the lead stars. It is tough to make such a complex case (so complex that even the author apparently left one murder in the story unsolved), and this effort was done by Director Howard Hawks, with screenplay by William Faulkner.

One story about the filming that portrays the complication of the story was that when the Director was unable to figure out as to who killed the chauffeur Owen Taylor, he sent a note to the author Chandler, and Chandler could not figure out either. By the time of the movie release, the ’story’ of Bogart and Bacall was in full flow, and Bacall’s agent wanted to get more screen presence of Bacall in the movie, and new scenes were added for this purpose. And of course, this also meant that scenes of Martha Vickers (Carmen) were cut in order to give more significance to Bacall. Another interesting point was that the novel had to be censored to fit into the production mores that were in force in Hollywood at that time.
The movie is about the investigation by Private Detective Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) of a case given to him by General Sternwood (Charles Waldron). The General wants him to resolve some gambling debts owed by his younger daughter Carmen (Martha Vickers) to a bookseller called Arthur Geiger. In this visit, Carmen tries to flirt with Philip, but he remains indifferent to her. He also meets the General’s recently divorced older daughter, Mrs. Vivian Rutlidge (Lauren Bacall). And Philip plunges headlong into a mystery involving nymphomania, pornography, murder, deceit. At the center of all this is Carmen, and involves the murder of Geiger. In the end, after some murders, a lot of violence, eventually he is able to learn the true facts of the case and figure out what to tell the police.

Fargo was a very interesting movie to watch, a movie that conveys the darker side of humanity. Released in 1996, the movie was directed and produced by the Coen Brothers. The movie stars Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, and Harve Presnell in significant roles. Given the plot where a husband is willing to get his wife kidnapped for money, the movie showcases how such situations can quickly go out of control and lead to consequences that are harmful for all involved. Very quickly, you reach a situation where people are willing to murder for money (something that is weirdly seen as a normal happening), willing to murder because somebody annoys you; such situations give a chance to let the psychopaths live upto their dreams.
Why call a movie Fargo ? Well, there is an actual city called Fargo in North Dakota, and it appears in the movie for a very short time. But in reality as the Coen Brothers, admitted, Fargo as a name for a movie looks interesting (and the play on words of ‘Far’ ‘Go’ seem apt to a story where money plays a setting role in what people do).

The movie was well received by critics, and went onto win 2 Oscars (Best original screenplay and Best Actress in a Leading Role for Frances McDormand). The movie also did well at other Film Festivals such as BAFTA, Cannes. The movie also got nominations for 5 other Oscars:
# Academy Award for Best Picture
# Academy Award for Directing (Joel Coen)
# Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (William H. Macy)
# Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Roger Deakins)
# Academy Award for Film Editing (Ethan Coen & Joel Coen)
The movie went further to increase the reputation of the Coen Brothers (whose other films include O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy, Miller’s Crossing, Blood Simple, The Man Who Wasn’t There, No Country For Old Men, The Big Lebowski, and Barton Fink). One interesting tidbit is that the lead female role in Fargo, Frances McDormand is married to Joel Coen since 1984.
Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) is a salesman in an Oldsmobile dealership, with the dealership being owned by his father-in-law Wade. Wade is rich, but Jerry does not get to see the money, and is financial difficulties. The solution ? He contacts an ex-convict named Shep Proudfoot, and through him, Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare) and Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi). In a bar in the city of Fargo, they concot a plan to kidnap Jerry’s wife Jean for a total amount of $ 1 million that he will get from Wade. In the meantime, Jerry almost comes to an agreement with his father-in-law for financing for a business plan (and Jerry attempts to call off the kidnapping but fails). However, the business plan soon falls through with Wade deciding to do the financing independently, and not through Jerry.
The kidnapping proceeds, and Wade is duly informed by Jerry about this. However, by that night, the kidnapping is in serious trouble, with a license plate problem causing the intervention of a policeman. The kidnappers kill the trooper, and then kill 2 witnesses to the scene (in the neighboring state of Minnesota). These murders bring in the local police chief, 7 month pregnant Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand). She gives a look of being simple, but is very competent and versed in police procedures. She is soon on the trail, first finding the link to Shep Proudfoot, and then deciding to travel to Minneapolis to investigate further.
In the meantime, the case takes a more deadly turn with Shep going after Carl and humiliating him. And in the taking of money for ransom, Carl has a shootout with Wade who has come to deliver the money himself. Wade dies, and Carl is wounded. While returning to his place back, Carl hides most of the money; however, when he returns to his cabin, he finds that his partner has murdered the hostage Jean. They have a dispute, and Carl is killed with an axe. By this time, Marge is very close to resolving the case, and is finally able to nail Jerry, and then arrest Grimsrud.

There are 2 types of war movies; the ones that take a slightly more romantic view of war, and then there are the ones that seek to portray war more realistically. They depict war as something that dehumanizes human beings, with no nobility being there. People suffer huge emotional and physical trauma, including both the people who take part in it, and the collateral damage to civilians (people in the territories where the war is taking place and the relatives and friends of the war participants). There are a number of movies that came out during and after the Vietnam War that portray the horrors of the war, such as Apocalypse Now, Platoon, etc. The Deer Hunter is another movie of the same type, that takes 3 people who enter the war as soldiers, suffer the horrors of the war including capture and torture in a VietCong Prisoner of War camp, and then takes their experiences just after the war (not their life, but their experiences still related to Vietnam).

The film was loosely based on a screenplay called “The Man Who Came To Play” (by Louis Garfinkle and Quinn K. Redeker) depicting people who come to Las Vegas to play Russian Roulette (the game is a dangerous game of taking a chance with a bullet in a gun, just not knowing which chamber the bullet is in); this screenplay idea was then combined with an idea about a group of steel workers who go to Vietnam for military service, with their life now revolving around the effects of the war and its aftermath. The movie showed several serious and challenging subjects such as suicide, mental illness, the effects of war, etc.
The movie centers around these 3 Rust belt workers, Michael (Robert De Niro), Steven (John Savage), and Nick (Christopher Walken). In their service in Vietnam, they are captured and help in a POW camp; the guards, to relieve their boredom, force the prisoners to play the game of Russian Roulette. Steven shoots the bullet above his head, and is punished by the guards for not following the rules of the game. Nick and Michael manage to overcome the guards, kill them, and escape along with Steve.
Escape in Vietnam means floating down the river, and that is what the 3 friends do. Only of them (Nick) manages to escape in a rescue helicopter, while Michael jumps in after Steve who has fallen into the river, since Steve’s legs were damaged in the fall. Steve and Michael eventually manage to make it friendly lines, and lose contact with Nick, who eventually finds himself in a Saigon bar playing Russian Roulette all the time.
By the time much later that Steve and Michael reunite, Nick has become totally lost to everybody else, his only place being the Saigon bar. By the time Mike manages to locate him, Nick no longer can remember anything and refuses to go back to the US, and then it happens. He finally shoots himself in the head.
The Deer Hunter won
Best Picture,
Best Director (Michael Cimino),
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Christopher Walken),
Best Film Editing, and
Best Sound.

Nominated for
Best Actor in a Leading Role (Robert De Niro),
Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Meryl Streep),
Best Cinematography (Vilmos Zsigmond) and
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

The Metropolis was a movie that was seemingly way ahead of its time. It’s a movie about the conflict between the rulers (the technologically advanced class) and the the workers who toiled to provide for it all (and who were seen as the subjugated sections of the population). Metropolis depicted this scenario, set in the year 2026, with hugely futuristic settings. The movie was not something that is easily viewable in its original creation - it was deemed too long (at 210 minutes), ruthlessly chopped and modified for multiple reasons (whether to it into the 90 minutes allowed by theatre owners, or because parts of the subject were deemed too controversial in the United States, or because the sound era started soon after and the movie was adjusted in terms of frames per second to fit into the sound compatible format). In addition, parts of the original movie were found in Argentina, and parts of the original movie were never recovered.

The movie was made in Germany, as probably one of the earliest great science fiction movies, made by Austrian-German director Fritz Lang and one of the most expensive movies of that era, costing around 7 million Reichsmarks at that time (approx $200 million as of now). The movie was written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou (in a twist, the movie was praised by the Nazis, and Thea soon became an ardent Nazis; she and Lang finally divorced in 1934).
The society of 2026 was divided into 2 rigid groups with the planners living in luxury, and the workers toiling underground in pretty bad conditions. The skyline has plenty of Gothic style skyscrapers (probably inspiring the Tyrell towers in the classy Bladerunner made much later). The city is run by Johann ‘Joh’ Fredersen (Alfred Abel), who looks for ways to ensure that the workers remain in their conditions. However, there is a charismatic and beautiful lady, Maria (Brigitte Helm), who advises the workers against trying for a revolt, and instead wait for the arrival of a figure known as the ‘Mediator’. It is the Mediator who will bring together these 2 separate sections of society and improve the conditions of the workers. She has an admirer, Frederson’s own son, Freder (Gustav Fröhlich), who is disgusted at the conditions in which the workers toil and live, and joins Maria’s cause.
And then starts the true future. The scientist and old rival of Fredersen, Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge), builds a robot in the shape of Maria. He uses this robot to first preach discord in the young rich men of Metropolis and then descends to the underground sections where the robot inspires rebellion in the workers. In this rebellion, they destroy the important ‘Heart Machine’ and then realize that the destruction in turn causes the flooding of their own quarters. They chase Maria, and burn her, and then realize that she is a robot. The real Maria is chased by Rotwang, and followed by Freder, and in the climatic end, Rotwang falls to his death; and Freder carries out his destiny of being the Mediator by uniting Frederson with the workers.

Robert Ludlum wrote a lot about conspiracies of power and attempting to take control, a subject that was very popular in the 60’s and 70’s with all the talk of the rise of the arms-industrial complex and associated industries; the good part is that he was able to weave a good storyline that kept a person compelled to read the book. Ludlum’s books had many things in common, they had a fast paced action, they always had many top level people involved, including surprises where some of the people were not expected to be a part of the conspiracy, but they were.
The Materese Circle involves 2 brutal and skilled enemies, Vasili Taleniekov from the Soviet Union, and Brandon Alan Scofield from the US State Dept Consular Relations. These 2 are killers who have killed people loved by either one of them, and hate each other in a visceral way. And they are the 2 main suspects from either side when valuable people on tne US (the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) and Soviet (a very renowned scientist) side are assassinated in a brutal way. Suspicion immediately falls onto the other, and is only neautralized when the leaders of either countries calls the other.

Both of these are killers are now getting slightly old, maybe not of so much use to their country’s intelligence community, but still have the talent. However, little do they know about the way that their life is going to be turned. They are soon going to be getting information about a massive conspiracy, called the Materese Circle, spun by an old Corsican rich man and coming to full active life now. The conspiracy has its own troops, its own assassins and its own leaders, and they will stop at nothing to remove the ones they want to remove from their path. The Materese leaders are the ones who are orchestrating the international terrorism community (one must remember this was before the time of the Al-Qaeda), and is now moving towards getting control of both Moscow and Washington DC, and it is very difficult to stop them.
Taleniekov learns of these facts from an old friend who is dying after a visit from a killer of the Matarese Circle, and finds it hard to believe all this conspiracy, and when told to work with Scofield, refuses; but soon things are moving to get them together. Both these skilled killers are, under instructions from Matarese Men, sentenced to death by their respective Governments, no capture, no interrogation, just execution. Eventually, these 2 old enemies, get together (in an incredible episode of violence where they manage to kill the assassins sent to kill them). They travel to the Island of Corsica to learn more, and learn a fair deal more about the origins of the group called the Matarese. They are pursued relentlessly by the Matarese, who don’t hesitate to kill friends and loved ones of these 2.
At the same time, these 2 are getting closer to the source, and eventually manage to reach their target, and in a final burst of violence, manage to eliminate the Matarese council, even as the Soviet is lost in this final carnage. Read the book for its fast paced flow, for the story that could seem realistic in a different time and that is very gripping.

Cape Fear was a movie released in 1991, based on an earlier movie made in 1962 (with some differences). The 1991 movie was made by famed director Martin Scorsese (a tidbit of continuity between the 1962 and the 1991 movie is that some of the main characters of the 1962 movie, Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, and Martin Balsam also starred in the 1961 movie, but in a different role. Another tidbit is that the 1991 movie was Gregory Peck’s final movie, well almost, he relinquished his retirement temporarily in the 1998 remake of his Moby Dick).

The film received critical acclaim, and also did well at the box office. The movie was a dark depiction of the theme of revenge that makes a ex-convict stalk, threaten and violently attack the person whom he believes is responsible for the time he spends in prison, and also threaten his family.
It is also true that the depiction of people in movies made recently show them as having different shades of character, not only black or white. So, in the 1962 movie, the central character of Sam Bowden was much less complex than the character shown in the 1991 film; here he is shown to have several flaws in his character. Additionally, the ex-convict Max Cady is shown to be justified in getting angry at what had been done to him by his own defense lawyer; his lawyer had hidden a document that could have turned the case and caused Cady to be convicted and sent to jail for 14 years for rape.
The movie is all about the desire for revenge, culminating in a final horrific scene of confrontation in an isolated house in stormy conditions. Max Cady (Robert De Niro in an Oscar nominated role) was being tried for the rape and battery of a 16 year old, and in the trial he was defended by the public defender Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte). Cady is illiterate and does not realize that his lawyer had hidden a document that stated that the vitim was promiscuous, something that might have lessened the charge due to doubts about whether the intercourse was consensual or forced.
Now, 14 years later, Max Cady has learnt a lot about the law, and also learnt that his lawyer had not defended him well. He wants revenge on Bowden (and his family) who live in a quiet small town in North Carolina. It is this stalking of Bowden and the sheer venom that De Niro projects that makes this movie great.

For fans watching current action movies, Computer Generated Graphics seem very smooth, barely visible as being different from the flow of the movie. However, there was a time when such CG were rough, easily discernible and unable to handle complicated effects. And then came this movie, Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1991. The Computer Graphics used in this movie were plain revolutionary, done by a firm called Industrial Light and Magic. This was the turning point in the world of cinema, where the effects used were incredible, causing awe in the minds of fans who would have seen such effects for the first time.
The movie was an incredible success for many reasons. It generated very positive critical acclaim, earned a lot of money worldwide - more than $500 million (even though the movie was the most expensive movie ever made at that point of time, costing approx $100 million), and earned very high reputations for its director James Cameron (who became known for his Midas touch, making the Titanic later, which earned over a $1 billion), as well as for Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The movie also earned 4 Academy Awards (truth to say, these were all technical awards - the Academy would never have given any of the picture or acting awards to such an out and out commercial movie). These awards were:
Best Sound,
Best Make Up,
Best Visual Effects, and
Best Sound Editing
The movie takes off from the first Terminator picture. It has now been 10 years since the incidents of the first terminator movie, and the machines decide to play their hand again. They send an advanced model to kill the young John Connor (Edward Furlong), so that the insurrection happening much later can be stopped. This time, the humans do not send a human to protect him, but instead send a modified Terminator series cyborg (similar to the killer of the first machine). The terminator sent by the machines is an advanced machine, capable of changing itself into different forms and shapes (using a technology called liquid metal) - although it cannot convert itself into more complex machinery such a gun. It is still as ruthless as ever, single-minded in its quest to kill John Connor.
John Connor lives with foster parents since his real mother Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) has been committed to a psychiatric institution given that she would forever keep on warning about a future man vs. machine war - something that John is very cynical about. There is a climatic sequence very early in the movie when the terminator and the protector cyborg both locate John, and Arnold is able to save him. This was actually the first time that the audience learned that the feared terminator from the first movie is actually a savior.
John learns very early that he is in the cross-hairs of a powerful terminator. He also learns that his mother would be the next target, and manages to order / persuade the savior terminator (Arnold) to save his mother. They reach there, and as soon as Sarah sees the terminator, she is terrified, but is convinced by John that he is there to help. They manage to outrun the advanced model (T-1000). Arnold tells her more about how Skynet was set up, as well as the creator of the network. They soon reach their weapons arsenal, with John trying to understand more about the terminator.
Sarah is over-wrought and soon sets out to kill Miles Bennett Dyson (Joe Morton), the creator of Skynet, and almost succeeds, but John and the Terminator reach there in time. They team up with Miles to destroy whatever he has done; however, in the effort Miles gets killed and blows up the complex. And then follows a thrilling chase where the T1000 chases Sarah, John, and the Terminator. This involves a helicopter, a big liquid nitrogen truck (and the viewers get to see one of the incredible special effects of the movie - the T1000 assembling itself from a pool of solid -> melting to form liquid metal). There are some fight scenes, but in the end, it is a battle to the end. How do John and Sarah survive the fearsome might of the T1000 ?

Movies that are based on science are sometimes successful (take Spielberg’s movies - Close Encounters.., ET, Back to the Future, etc), but many more are unsuccessful. All of these movies portray science as not very hostile, and then came in the hard science fiction movies, with Aliens and The Terminator being movies that were more action oriented, less warm and fuzzy, and very successful. For example, The Terminator cost around $6.5 million to make, and earned around $78 million worldwide. It was a critical success as well, and set the stage for sequels to be made. The movie also played a big part in making Arnold Schwarzenegger that super-star that he became.

The irony around this is that Schwarzenegger was not the first choice for the role, the role of the terminator was initially envisaged to be a small person, not particularly unremarkable. Schwarzenegger was first offered the role of the human from the future, but there was a realization that Schwarzenegger was better suited for the role of the terminator, and that automatically made the role of the terminator to be a big muscular man.
The movie is based on the concept of a future where the machines rule and the humans are fighting back, led by a brave and great hero, John Connor. The machines are able to plan a great deal, including creating robots with living tissue over a metal skeleton (cyborg) in order to better infiltrate the rebel humans, but are unable to score a clear victory. And then the machine leader, the intelligent network Skynet, thinks of a diabolical plan (although would be apparent to anybody in the age of time travel). A cyborg is sent back to 1984 to kill the mother of the rebel leader, Sarah Connor (based in Los Angeles). The humans are able to also send back a rebel soldier, Kyle Reese, to try and protect her.
And thus start the action. The cyborg is a robot, it cannot be reasoned with, it cannot be destroyed with small arms fire, and is ruthless. The robot starts with the phone book, where 3 Sarah Connors are listed. It kills the first 2, and is hunting for the third. When he is trying to kill the third, she is protected by Kyle, who explains his mission and who the cyborg actually is. He can only use current machinery since time travel did not allow him to get back superior weapons, a handicap against the cyborg, aka the Terminator.
When the terminator attacks again, there is a chase, where they are arrested. Typically, the police see a number of weirdos every day, and if you start to spin a story about a robot from the future trying to kill, then it is unlikely that you will be believed, especially if being examined by a shrink. And so their story is not believed. The terminator arrives at the police station and asks for Sarah and Kyle, but is thwarted. Then comes an epic one liner, “I’ll be back !”, and so he does, attaching the police station with a powerful vehicle.
A full scale attack on a police station ? The police fight back, but against a terminator incapable of being killed by their weapons, useless. The terminator kills 17 policeman, but Reese manages to escape with Sarah. They try to hide at a motel where Reese shows Sarah how to make pipe bombs. The scene turns a bit romantic, no doubt furthered by the close escape from the terminator, and they make love (ending up conceiving the future leader, John).
The Terminator manages to track them down, and the situation is now near the end-game. Reese is wounded in the attack, but are able to attack the terminator with a bomb, causing extensive damage to its metal skeleton. However, even the remaining shell of the skeleton is after them, and they escape into a factory. Reese manages to destroy the legs of the Terminator, but at the cost of his own life. It is Sarah who finally destroys the upper part of the skeleton in a machine press, where finally the terminator is killed / terminated / made inactive.
The movie ends with scenes showing Sarah preparing for the future, pregnant with Reese’s son (who will become John), traveling in Mexico, staring into an uncertain future.
The movie has a big cycle around time that could confuse you if you started thinking around it. The man who will save the rebel humans is John Connor, son of Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese. Reese in turn is a man from the future, who only came into Sarah’s life because he was sent back by John. This is a cycle, with no start and end.

This is another wonderfully narrated novel by Khaled Hosseini. For those, who have read his first one, The Kite Runner, and appreciated it, would not be disappointed with this one. It is a great read. Written in his usual story telling manner - where he tells some unbearable events with so ease that they become readable – he tells a lot about human relations and how the will to survive is much bigger that the destiny to perish. This is a novel where at some point of time, you feel like putting the book down and crying our heart out. And for me, it is just a wonderful feeling – there are very few writings which can do this. He also has a way of making Afghanistan very real and its people come live in front of your eyes while you read his books.

“A Thousand Splendid Suns” is a female centric novel. It makes the reader feel the plight of women in the conservative societies. It also highlights the impact of civil unrest on women specially. The story begins in 1964, ends in 2003, spanning over the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, the defeat and withdrawal of the Russians that led to the warlords in-fighting, followed by the rise of the Taliban, and ending with the beginning of democratic rule in which the warlords are given legitimate posts in the government. It is primarily set in Kabul with some early incidents in Herat and later ones in Pakistan. It traces the life of two women, alternating between their points of views. First one, Mariam is from Herat, born as an illegitimate country girl to a wealthy businessman, married to a 30 years older Pashtun man in Kabul, and unable to conceive a child (victim of domestic violence due to that). Second one, Laila is a Tajik from Kabul itself, born to a literate family, looses her family in a rocket attack & brothers fighting for freedom over Soviets, and agrees to become second wife of Mariam’s husband due to his extremely calculated manipulations. The two of them, are initially repulsive to each other. But in due time, they gain each other’s sympathy and trust, and become inseparable. After living their lives like rats, as an act of desperation, Mariam kills her husband, allows Laila to run away to Pakistan with her true teenage love along with her kids, and goes to hell as per Taliban’s law. After Taliban’s fall, Laila comes back to Herat & Kabul to pay visit to Mariam’s place and starts a new life in Kabul working among kids affected due to civil war & Taliban rule.

It is an extremely moving piece of writing – well narrated. It is surely worth a read.