The Beauty Academy of Kabul

"After decades of war and Taliban, the women of Afghanistan need a makeover," reads the subhead on The Beauty Academy of Kabul, Liz Mermin's documentary, which, despite its powerful portrayal of a group of Afghani survivors, also features a degree of cultural dissonance that threatens to wreck its good intentions. A team of hair stylists from New York, including a couple of women who fled Afghanistan as the Taliban assumed control after the Soviet Occupation, set up an academy to professionally train women who had been operating illegal salons out of their homes. Notions of beauty and its impact on self-respect and shaping culture are duly noted as the Afghani women share their stories of survival in a country and sometimes even within their own homes that were pitched battlegrounds. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness on the part of the American women coming in to teach them is off-putting to both the Afghani stylists and possibly some American viewers. Cultural ignorance rears its ugly head, but the students have dealt with far worse. (tt stern-enzi) Grade: B