David R. Walker

No Good Men

Director: Sahrbanoo Sadat

Cast: Sahrbanoo Sadat, Anwar Hashimi, Yasin Negah

Running Time: 1 hour 43 minutes

Countries of Origin: Norway, Denmark, Germany and Afghanistan

Festival: Durban International Film Festival

Language: Pashto and Dari with English Subtitles.

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Afghan director Sahrbanoo Sadat both stars in and directs an autobiographical tale of a female TV reporter for Kabul News in the heady and catastrophic months before the fall of Afghanistan in April 2021 to complete rule by the Taliban after the untimely withdrawal of American troops by the Biden Administration in her new film No Good Men, which premiered at the Berlinale in February 2026.

Sadat plays the outspoken TV journalist Naru in a completely patriarchal society where even the thought of a female camerawoman is frowned upon. In No Good Men, Sadat paints all the men in Afghanistan as violent, dominant and in complete control, which is not far from the truth since the Afghan women had no rights at all. Even when Naru has to navigate looking after her three year old son Liam played by Liam Hussaini, his father, the wayward womanizing husband of Naru kidnaps the son from play school and Naru has no way of getting her child back except through complete submission to her husband.

Naru meets TV anchorman Qodat played by Anwar Hashimi, a mild mannered by strong principled handsome man who strikes up a fondness for this feisty female journalist in a society which was about to be ruled by complete patriarchy.

No Good Men with it’s vibrant beginning and  dazzling insight into Afghanistan before the Taliban took over is beautiful tale of one woman whose destiny changes forever when she meets Qodat who makes the ultimate sacrifice at the critical moment when her life undergoes a full upheaval.

With flashy scenes of Kabul News footage of wedding bombings and disastrous interviews with the inept Afghan government which simply abandoned the country the moment the American troops withdraw from Kabul, No Good Men is a poignant and funny tale of Naru and her lover Qodat whose love is never fully explored due to a country on the verge of collapse.

With funding from Norway, Denmark and Germany, No Good Men directed by Sahrbanoo Sadat is worth seeing providing an interesting romantic comedy about constrictive gender relationships, doomed love and a vibrant society on the verge being destroyed forever.

When Margaret Atwood wrote the brilliant dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale about a society in which women’s rights are completely nullified by a toxic male dictatorship she based her ideas on visiting Afghanistan in the 1980’s before the Russian invasion. No Good Men, without the pity or sadness, shines an expert light on Afghanistan before the fall and how even in these extraordinary circumstances, love can flourish.

No Good Men gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and is worth seeing. Director Sahrbanoo Sadat does a brilliant job of shining a cinematic light on a forgotten country whose vibrancy has now been extinguished. Recommended viewing.

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