Skip to main content
Lifting the veil
MARIA DUARTE is moved and outraged by a courageous undercover documentary that explores the plight of women in Afghanistan
Bread and Roses

Bread & Roses (15)
Directed by Sahra Mani

 

AS women in the US are having their health rights eroded, in Afghanistan, under the Taliban dictatorship, women are banned from working, getting an education, walking or travelling in a taxi on their own, singing or listening to music and they cannot even talk outside their homes. 

The stark realities for Afghan women living in this so-called gender apartheid are shown in Afghan director Sahra Mani’s powerful and harrowing documentary which follows three women in real time as they secretly filmed guerilla-style their day-to-day plight and fight against the regime. 

Donate to the Fighting Fund
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
CONFRONTING HOMOPHOBIA: (L) FCB Cadell, The Boxer, c.1924; (
Exhibition review / 21 March 2025
21 March 2025
While the group known as the Colourists certainly reinvigorated Scottish painting, a new show is a welcome chance to reassess them, writes ANGUS REID
BLOOD ON THE TRACKS: Xilun Sun as the mysterious interloper
Film of the Week: / 20 March 2025
20 March 2025
ANGUS REID recommends an exquisite drama about the disturbing impact of the one child policy in contemporary China
Short Story / 7 February 2025
7 February 2025
The phrase “cruel to be kind” comes from Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s Prince didn’t go in for kidnap, explosive punches, and cigarette deprivation. Tam is different.
Frantz Fanon at a press conference during a writers' confere
BenchMarx / 28 January 2025
28 January 2025
ANGUS REID deconstructs a popular contemporary novel aimed at a ‘queer’ young adult readership
Similar stories
MESMERISING: Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley in The Substanc
Culture / 27 December 2024
27 December 2024
To the fore: women’s unique visions, perspectives and marked creativity in front of and behind the camera
AUDACIOUS: The Taliban enter an abandoned US military base i
Cinema / 15 August 2024
15 August 2024
Inside Afghanistan, Chinese crime thriller, entertaining pants and Alien deja vu: the Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Hollywoodgate, Only The River Flows, Jackpot! and Alien Romulus
Former Afghan interpreters protest in front of the Home Offi
Books / 26 July 2024
26 July 2024
DOC RITCHIE assesses an account of the disastrous evacuation by last British ambassador to Afghanistan