Back in August, the Taliban took back control of Afghanistan, after twenty years of US occupation (last week was in fact the anniversary of the US invasion). That makes Benjamin Gilmour's "Jirga" all the more relevant. This story of a member of an Australian platoon who returns to the Afghan village where he accidentally killed a man serves a dual purpose. The obvious thing is that it addresses the morality of war. But it also shows Afghanistan's natural beauty. Beyond the images of nonstop suicide bombers, the country has some great scenery. No doubt the mountainous terrain is part of why the country has repeatedly proved impossible to successfully colonize.

Anyway, a fine movie. I like movies that show us cultures that we don't often get to see.

Jirga: An Afghan court of tribal elders. Positive: Showed the countryside; the markets of Afghanistan, and some of it's peoples as our ex-Aussie soldier travels to ask forgiveness of a family for the mistaken killing of their father. As to the war it brings up the question of, "Do the means justify the end?" Perhaps it should be the other way around, "Does the end justify the means?" Negative: We do not see the Taliban for its male centric treatment of females; amongst the worst of any country on Earth. Nor it's disregard for education, & basic human freedoms. Nor it's indiscriminate killing of thousands. Neutral oddity: Most Afghan cars have steering wheels on the right yet they drive on the right side of the road (same as left side steering countries like the U.S.).

Former Aussie soldier Mike Wheeler (Sam Smith) is returning to Afghanistan after a 3 year absence. His goal is to achieve forgiveness from the family of a man he killed there in a raid.

Lots of realism and humanness emanates from this movie, although from time to time a few of the plot elements come across as implausible. The naturalness of the acting is impressive, and the cinematography is striking.

Overall for me, it was a journey worth taking.