The Beauty Academy of Kabul
Shadow Distribution | Release Date: March 24, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
VarietyRonnie Scheib
In an act of "selfless service," a group of American women, backed by industry giants like Clairol and Vogue, open a beauty school in war-ravaged Afghanistan. The anomalies are manifold: Gun-toting soldiers patrolling the streets are visible through the windows as rookie beauticians busily snip, perm and tweeze. Read full review
60
Village VoiceJessica Winter
The idea isn't as odd as it might first appear, since running a salon is one of the few socially acceptable means for a woman in Afghanistan to earn an income. The execution, however, evokes a particularly outlandish Christopher Guest mockumentary. Read full review
60
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
The film's unforgettable stars are the beauty academy's students, women who have survived tribal warfare, Soviet invasion, Muslim tyranny, American bombs, patriarchal families and even Western good intentions with extraordinary grace and fortitude. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterRichard James Havis
This quirky documentary about a group of American hairdressers who establish exactly that shows that the power of hair salons should never be underestimated. Read full review
50
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Debbie, for better or for worse, is the high point of the entertaining but lightweight film, which is better suited to public TV than the big screen. Oh, yes. If anybody should decide to open another beauty school in Kabul, be sure to leave Debbie in Indiana. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
How ironic that one form of beauty would be returned to battle-scarred Afghanistan by ugly Americans, but that's just what director Liz Mermin caught in her slim 2004 documentary for the BBC. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
At its best, Mermin -- who used an all-female crew -- conveys the sense of an entirely feminine world being created under the beauty school roof, and it's refreshing. Read full review
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