Wild Bunch and Bac Films present
AT FIVE IN THE AFTERNOON
Samira MAKHMALBAF
Ah! That terrible five in the afternoon!
It was five by all the clocks!
It was five in the shade of the afternoon!
Oh God, forgive my sins!
Instruct all pious men to close their eyes
in front of women
And to control their lust
For it is more seemly
And God knows all that we do
And women should refrain from dancing
That their charms remain hidden
Oh God, forgive my sins!
Pupils should wear a black uniform with a white scarf.
Nogreh, why are you wearing a colored dress?
Miss, if I wore the uniform,
my father wouldn't allow me to come.
Why vvouldn't he?
He doesn't believe that girls should study.
Why shouldn't girls study?
Sit down!
The Department of Education has asked us
to answer a questionnaire
about your future careers.
For example.
Those of you who hope to become teachers.
Raise your hands.
Thank you.
Lower your hands.
Now.
Those who want to be engineers.
Please stand up!
Those pupils who wish to serve
their country better
by becoming doctors.
Stand up!
Sit down please!
Even more important.
Who wants to be President of the Republic?
The President of Afghanistan.
Very good!
How can an Afghan woman
become President. In her burqa and with her children?
Can you imagine an Afghan woman without children?
A woman can never be elected President!
An Afghan woman deserves to be President.
We won't wear burqas forever
and children grow up!
Haven't you ever studied women's history?
Do you understand?
You, whose parents forbid you to come to school
wearing the right clothes.
How can you hope to be President?
A brave and intelligent girl
can make her own decisions.
It's me who decides things for myself.
Not my family.
We are Muslim women.
A Muslim woman can never be elected
President of the Republic.
Has Afghanistan ever had a woman president?
What about Aicha. the wife of the Prophet?
She was hardly just anybody!
Why can a man be elected President and not a woman?
I lost my father. I lost my brother
to a regime run by men, not by women!
I used to live in Pakistan.
The president, Benazir Bhutto, was a woman.
And Indira Gandhi in India.
It could continue from generation to generation.
She spoke wisely, she served her country well.
We're not talking about other countries.
We're talking about Afghanistan.
Although she was a woman. Benazir Bhutto
favoured the Taliban.
An anti-woman regime that destroyed Afghanistan.
Benazir Bhutto supported the Taliban.
When she was President.
The Taliban regime was already repressing women.
That's your opinion.
If I was elected President of the Republic.
I would act as a loving mother
to the people of Afghanistan.
I laugh because if I cry because of my sorrows.
My friends will cry too.
I am sad because of the death of my parents.
I had no one beside me
to comfort me.
I lost my father. I lost my brother.
Kabul has been beset by troubles.
Was it the fault of the Afghan women?
They wanted to go to school but were forbidden to study.
They were shut up in their houses.
Afghan women have suffered the worst injustices!
Above all, the girls, who were not allowed to study.
The Taliban forbade us to go to school.
Man is the guardian of woman
because God has created some
superior to others...
Take the buckets and look for water!
The well is dry.
Leylomah.
Have you had news of your husband?
No one has heard anything.
What am I going to do?
My milk has dried up.
My baby is dying of hunger and disease.
We must take him to the doctor.
- We have nowhere to live. - Everything's been destroyed.
Here too, there are only ruins.
There is room to live in the ruins. Follow me!
Is the president of Pakistan a man or a woman?
I don't want to answer that.
Why not?
I don't like politics, I prefer real life.
You've lived in Pakistan for years
and you don't know if it's a man Or a woman!
And if I did know. what difference would it make?
Why does it matter to me?
I want to know if it's a man or a woman.
Ask someone else.
I don't want to answer you.
And you, do you know?
No, I don't know anything about it.
I was a beggar in Pakistan. My son was killed.
I have a young daughter-in-law with two fatherless children.
I can't read or write.
You see, my mother.
She had four sons.
One was killed by the Russians.
Another in the civil war and another by the Taliban.
I'm the only one left.
All of that because of politics!
Look over there.
It isn't there.
Look in the other room.
Give me the chicken.
It's ours.
You shelter us, then accuse us of stealing your chickens.
It was a little egg I raised myself.
I fed it myself
and you want to take it from me?
Why are you lying?
Lying, at my age?
l am not lying.
We house you and you steal from us. My nephew is sick.
- Give me the chicken. - What are you talking about?
You're accusing us of stealing?
You house us then you accuse us.
I raised it from a chick.
Do you swear you didn't steal the chicken?
No. I won't swear.
- It's ours! - No, it's ours!
What school do you go to?
The Galeh school.
Can I enroll there?
Why not?
Where is it?
A long way from here.
Don't worry. I know where it is, I'll go with you.
Go back to the others. This room is too small for us.
We don't know each other.
My baby is sick. My husband is away.
I don't have enough to eat.
I can't share this room with you.
You take one side. I'll have the other.
Take this curtain down!
We're not moving from here.
There are the same problems everywhere.
Make an effort.
Nogreh!
Two families have moved in to our house!
What?
They're living in our bedroom!
What can I do?
Driver.
Take us to Barchi.
Cover your faces and I'll take you.
OK, we will.
It's a sin for you not to cover your faces.
Wear your veils.
Do not talk to strangers.
- Understand? - Yes.
And if you have to.
Put a finger in your mouth
to disguise your voice.
So that it doesn't sound feminine.
Otherwise it is a sin.
Don't trade your life for a place in Hell.
Understand?
Don't uncover your faces.
OK.
Why have you lifted your veils?
Get out! Why did you do that?
You have abandoned the path to Heaven
for the road to Hell.
I'll leave you here.
I found your chickens.
We shouldn't have accused the others.
Forgive me, my God.
Brother, you listen to music all day long.
You are not a good neighbour.
Each man to his own faith!
You've had your say, now it's my turn.
I've already said again and again that I won't change my mind.
How many times do I have to say it?
I won't change my mind.
What sort of believer are you?
The devil is kinder than you.
You sit in the warm while I tremble with cold.
You pray five times a day but ifs all lies.
Sell your music and buy warm clothes.
I play this music so you'll move out.
What sort of life are you leading?
I live only to listen to this music.
I'll chase you out first.
I won't leave!
The music will force you out!
I'll play it even louder to get rid of you.
I'll join forces with the Devil to drive you out!
I won't leave!
We'll see.
No one knows where we're going.
My husband won't be able to find us.
He'll have to search the whole city.
What am I going to do?
Oh God, what am I going to do?
Halt!
Do you know the password?
No.
- He doesn't know the password. - Get out!
Who is this man?
He's my father-in-law.
We're looking for a house... for shelter.
At midnight?
We have nowhere to sleep.
- What's that under your burqa? - Don't be afraid.
It's my baby, he's sick.
We are hungry and thirsty and without shelter.
Where are you going?
Anywhere.
- What are you hiding? - My umbrella.
- No weapons? - No.
Show me!
Open it!
Hold it over your head!
Where were you going?
I'm looking for a house.
At midnight?!?
These two women are with me.
What is your relation to them?
Halt! Don't move!
I've brought you water.
Nogreh.
The hen hasn't laid. I have nothing for my baby.
- There are no eggs? - No.
- Didn't Father bring anything? - Nothing at all.
Give him milk.
I don't have any milk left.
He sucks but nothing comes.
Your milk has dried up, the hen hasn't laid.
The baby will get sicker!
I have no more milk.
- Not even a drop? - I haven't eaten anything.
Yesterday I asked the truck drivers
for news of my husband.
I don't know what to do.
No one knows anything.
No one?
Father...
let me go and ask
for news of my husband and see what's happened to him?
I will go myself.
If you are afraid of women
who oppose you and refuse to obey you
Lecture them
and do not go to their beds
Punish them!
What are you doing here?
I'm here to enroll my mother in school.
Enroll your mother?
I'm joking.
I've come to enroll my neighbor's daughter.
He helps the girls he likes.
You trouble your mother on account of schoolgirls?
He's doing it so he can choose one.
Why don't you let your mother ride your bicycle?
It doesn't matter,
I'm happy to walk.
She tried to ride the bike but she fell off.
Where did you disappear to last night?
My father took us away.
Because of the noise. He doesn't want us to live with strangers.
He's a fanatic, you can't argue with him.
You put us up and then go?
Whats important is that you're comfortable.
You left us alone.
It wasn't very polite.
- Anyway, did you hear the news? - What news?
The radio said that Benazir Bhutto
is standing in the presidential elections.
Really? ls she really a candidate?
What sort of speech did she make?
It was just a news bulletin, she wasn't speaking.
They just said she was standing.
Please, find me her speech, quickly.
Benazir Bhutto's Or any president's?
It doesn't matter, but it should be by a woman.
Do you want to become President?
Not straight away.
I want to see what presidents say in their speeches.
What makes people vote for them.
What they say to make people love them.
I'll try to find you something.
- Mother, let's go! - Yes. My feet hurt.
I'd like to know what you will do for women,
if you are elected?
Tell me!
Under the Taliban, we couldn't study.
What do you plan to do?
If I become President.
I will ask the Education Minister
to make up for the delay in the education of women
so that they can become teachers.
A twenty-year-old girl shouldn't be in the same class
as a twelve-year-old.
A question for Mina.
Your father was killed by a rocket.
You were all alone. When you looked for food.
The Taliban whipped you.
What will you do to the man who beat you?
What will you say to him?
If I was President.
I'd bring him here.
I know who he is,
the man who killed my father.
He drives a horse and cart.
He whipped me
when I went to the bazaar.
If I say anything about what he did to me,
he will be killed.
But I won't denounce him.
What would you do with the Taliban in general?
If I was President of the Republic.
I would establish a regime that would never give birth
to a new Taliban.
But I would not take vengeance.
I would not execute them.
Each of the three students who have come forward
must explain her agenda to us.
We will choose one of them
and recommend her to the Home Office.
This is an exercise in democracy.
You girls, you should not only think
of housework. of looking after children.
You must also concern yourselves with the affairs of our country.
I've brought you Karzai's speech. I couldn't find one by a woman.
Karzai's speech! Thank you very much.
But don't come here again, people will talk about us.
Heads of state are always conservative.
People will gossip about us.
Thank you again. Goodbye!
Please don't follow me.
People will gossip.
Please, don't follow me!
A president shouldn't beg.
Order me, and I won't come again.
OK. I order you not to follow me!
Father!
Father, they're trying to break in!
Father, ask the truck drivers
if they have any news of Akhtar, my husband.
Do you know Akhtar?
Have you seen Akhtar?
- What does he do? - He's a truck driver.
How tall is he?
Medium height, with brown eyes.
His name is Akhtar.
- Have you come from Pakistan? - Yes.
Is the president there a man or a woman?
I don't know.
We prayed and observed Ramadan. We are illiterate.
We went when I was seven. I had my children there.
When they bombed us, we took shelter in caves.
We ate one day and went hungry the next.
Then what happened?
His truck turned over. But he was alright.
Don't worry.
- Was he injured? - Yes.
But don't worry.
I've seen him. He'll be here in a day or two.
We were worried.
He'll be out of hospital soon.
Thank you very much.
Don't worry!
Can I take it?
I'm making my ablutions.
Take it.
Did you go to school or not?
Yes. The principal wants me
to wear the school uniform.
But if Father finds out, he will argue with me.
And I don't want him to.
He will never accept
that I should study or work.
What should I do?
Forgive my sins, my God!
Let me pray!
Children, what are you doing?
Gather up your things.
We are leaving.
Leylomah!
I'm looking for water.
But I haven't found any.
Father!
I can't find any water for your horse.
Nogreh!
Yes. Father.
Have you found any water?
No. I can hear it but I can't see any.
Keep searching, but look out for mines.
Have you found any?
No. Father.
I heard it dripping, but I couldn't find it.
Nogreh, I've washed the clothes.
Bring water so I can wash the baby.
Where did you get water for your sheep?
From the spring, behind the palace.
- There's a spring? - Yes.
Look, the city is overrun with blasphemy.
Let me bring you hay.
You're a horse, a beast. You don't understand.
Blasphemy is everywhere.
But what do you know about it?
You're an animal, you don't understand.
But I know it.
Many have been killed.
The country lies in ruins.
Are you cold?
Let me cover you.
If you catch cold. I'll feel responsible.
Look at the women without veils!
Blasphemy is everywhere.
You are an animal.
You don't know the difference between blasphemy and faith.
You care only about your stomach.
You want me to bring you hay.
I'm weary of you too.
What will become of us?
He mustn't catch cold.
That will warm you up, little one.
Sorry?
Ask him about his president's speech.
Ask him
what his president said
to make people vote for him.
He says he doesn't know.
He doesn't know.
Then ask him
why the people voted for the president.
What's he saying?
He says he's a soldier and that he cannot answer.
But I know the answer.
The people didn't like Chirac's rival.
So they had to vote for him.
- What did he do? - He gave a military salute.
You clothe same.
You have to run a poster campaign
to get people to vote for you.
I don't have any money.
We'll go to my friend for the photos.
I'll pay him later.
Come, we'll go and take the photos.
What post will you give me when you become President?
You can be my driver.
How generous of you!
If that doesn't suit you,
I'll be the driver and you be President.
No. I didn't mean that! But give me a real job.
What do you want to be?
Chief of the Military.
That's a good job, isn't it?
Our problem is that no one is ever in his right place.
I'm a poet. what can I do in the army?
- You're a poet? - Yes.
If you're a poet.
I'll put you in charge of campaign propaganda.
When you become President.
You will be in a much better position.
Do you want me to remain where I am?
Then I'll be the driver and you be President.
No thank you.
I think you want to be Prime Minister
or my personal adviser.
When I become President, choose whatever job you like.
Smile a little!
Fix your earrings.
Now take the photo.
The paper isn't cheap, the photos won't be either.
Just take the photo. I'll pay you.
Look at the camera!
Take the photo.
Look at the camera!
Done!
What's this photo for?
Was that a good pose?
Take another one.
Every negative will cost you.
I'll pay you later.
Look at the camera.
- Why so many photos? - She's running for President.
Her! She wants to be President?
Don't make me laugh!
No, I don't want to be President.
These photos are for school.
I'm standing in the school elections.
It's true
but she wants to become President like Benazir Bhutto.
Her? President?
What are you talking about?
Just take the photo!
Look at the camera.
Don't move. 1, 2, 3, done.
In Pakistan, I saw Bhutto reviewing the army.
I'm saying this for you, sister.
She was followed by nannies
who were holding her kids.
Everyone laughed, said her husband was the president, not her.
It's lucky women give birth to you.
Otherwise you'd say we were incapable of doing anything.
Now look serious.
Lower your burqa a little.
Don't smile,
sometimes people would rather vote fora serious candidate.
You're taking a lot of photos.
Benazir Bhutto didn't take so many!
In Afghanistan, we don't know what people will vote for,
serious or friendly?
Let's have one of you smiling.
Take another one.
Politics is a serious, brutal business.
You must look serious.
So that people will respect you.
Look straight ahead.
Now a neutral look.
Your veil.
Cover your head.
That one.
That's the best.
Done!
A woman should stay at home.
She should do the cooking, look after the house...
If she becomes President of the Republic
and gets pregnant, everyone will laugh at her.
Just take your photos
and mind your own business!
Where are you going?
Nogreh!
Wait!
You'll never succeed if you're not patient.
What did I say? Are you angry?
We're in Afghanistan.
Even in America or Europe.
How many women become President?
Don't be angry.
Give me an important post and I'll take you seriously.
Wait a minute!
I know you're angry with me,
but at least look at the photos
to choose one for the poster.
Do not think that those who died
for the love of God
are really dead
What's happening?
- Mina's dead. - Dead?
Rather
they are alive and sit beside Him
Baba, are you going to the ruins?
Get in.
Get in, girls.
Where are you going?
The city is overrun with blasphemy.
Women no longer wear their veils.
We are going to a real Islamic city.
I'd rather die there.
Your son was killed by a mine!
It happened on a dirt road.
Hello, how are you?
Why are you putting my photos up here?
I'm getting everything ready for the election.
Make a good speech.
You know that if my father sees them,
he'll be very angry with me.
They look really good, don't they?
I can speak when I'm alone.
But I'm afraid of talking in front of others.
I can't breathe.
My heart trembles.
I lose control.
No. I can't speak in front of a crowd.
Listen to me. You have to rehearse.
To prepare yourself
to speak in front of a crowd.
Presidents who make great speeches
rehearse a lot.
They practise a lotto say things that please the people.
I'll tell you a secret.
I have to know how they prepared their very first speeches.
It's very simple.
I heard some of them practised in front of cattle and sheep.
Then, when they're speaking in front of people.
They think of them as livestock.
Here's another secret.
I too practise by reciting my poems to animals.
But animals don't understand poetry!
Poets are inspired by Nature.
And Nature understands herself.
I've brought you a poem.
It's by a Spanish poet, about the death of a bull.
He loved animals and poetry.
“At five in the afternoon.
It was exactly five in the afternoon.
The rest was death
and death alone."
You had promised me.
You don't keep your promises.
I never want to hear
that damned poem again.
I want to learn to cry like a river
“With sweet mists.
And deep shores.
Which will carry away the bull's body
The bull does not know you,
Nor the fig tree. nor the horses.
Nor the ants in your house
Because you have died forever.
Ah! That terrible five in the afternoon!
It was five by all the clocks.
It was five in the shade of the afternoon.“
“It was five in the afternoon.“
My child, I brought you here
to speak with you.
You don't understand what I have suffered.
I cannot even sigh
because I have to conceal from my daughter-in-law
that her husband is dead.
Now her baby is fatherless.
You cannot understand these things.
You understand only hay.
When your mate died.
You sighed.
How did you do it?
Don't do it any more!
What pain it is
to be unable to sigh!
But to sigh is also painful.
How did you learn
of the death of your mate?
Wrap the baby up tightly so he doesn't catch cold.
He's not even crying.
He no longer drinks.
What can I do?
It was the wrong time to leave the city.
If my husband comes, he won't be able to find us.
He won't find us.
What will we do?
We should have waited in the city.
Then left together.
Do you hear me?
If my husband arrives in the city.
He won't be able to find us.
We will be lost to each other.
Do you hear me?
The horse is hungry.
The load is too heavy.
The cart won't hold out any longer.
The horse is weighed down.
He's overburdened.
I'm going to get down to save him.
Father, the baby isn't crying.
He is sleeping.
He's not even moving.
It's cold, he's sleeping.
What will I do if he dies?
Touch the baby, he's frozen.
Touch his hand.
He's never been this cold.
His whole body is frozen, he's frozen.
Look. Feel him.
My child.
My grandson is frozen.
How can I make a fire?
You understand only hay.
Leylomah.
Don't cry.
When someone sleeps soundly. does it mean he is dead?
I tell you he isn't dead, he will awaken.
Leylomah, don't cry.
The baby isn't dead.
He will wake up.
Look, over there!
God has sent us someone.
Maybe he will...
Maybe he will have mercy on us.
No need to cover yourselves, he's an old man.
Greetings.
Greetings, my son.
Do you have water?
Over the hill, next to the tree.
There's a little water.
Nogreh, go and look for water.
Leylomah, go with her
to fetch water for the animals.
Where were you going?
Kandahar.
What's wrong with your donkey?
He's sick with hunger and thirst.
He is dying.
We journeyed together for four months.
He is dying. l am going to...
Where am I going?
To Kandahar.
There was no water...
No villages...
Where is the road to Kandahar?
Why were you going to Kandahar?
To see Mollah Omar.
They're holding a council of wise men...
to decide...
whether or not...
to release Bin Laden to the Americans.
I do not want to hand over
a Muslim to American infidels.
You are very late.
Bin Laden is our guest, and he is a Muslim.
He should not be killed by the infidels.
You are too late, my friend.
Go back the way you have come.
America has invaded Afghanistan!
Bin Laden and Mollah Omar
have fled.
Blasphemy reigns in Kabul.
As if God had died.
God forgive me.
Gods wrath has descended.
It is as if Kabul has opened its mouth
to swallow all Gods creatures in a single gulp.
God does not die.
Donkeys die.
Bulls die.
Seas can dry up.
Seas can die.
The entire city is overrun with blasphemy.
As if God himself had grown profane.
My God, take back what you have loaned me.
Nothing!
No more villages!
No one to show me the way.
lam lost!
There are no more villages...
so I will sit here forever.
Ah! That terrible five In the afternoon!
It is five by all the clocks!
It is five in the shade of the afternoon.
With: Atefeh REZAI
Abdolali YOSSEFLALI
Marzieh AMIRI
Screenplay: Samira MAKHMALBAF
from a novel by Mohsen MAKHMALBAF
Assistant director: Marzieh IVIESHKINI
D.P.: Ebrahim GHAFORI
Sound: Faroukh FADAI and Behrouz SHAHAMAT
Music: Mohamad Reza DARVISHI
Editor: Mohsen MAKHMALBAF
Producer: Syamak ALAGHEBAND
Lab: Studio FILMSAZ
Produced by: Makhmalbaf Film House and Exception-Wild Bunch
Executive Producers: Vincent MARAVAL and Jean LABADIE
Director: Samira MAKHMALBAF
Translation: Mamad HAGHIGHAT