The Trappings of War

After having seen Saira Shah’s documentary “Beneath the Veil,” I imagine that we can expect more of the same in her latest, “Unholy War” (“Lifting the Veil Again,” Nov. 17). Beyond “Beneath the Veil’s” blatant and inappropriate use of background music--whose only conceivable purpose was to sway viewers’ emotions in this “objective” documentary--Shah too often resorted to suspect hand-held “verite”-style camera work, even when the context of the scene clearly indicated that a hidden camera wasn’t necessary. Her subjects also seemed posed and scripted.

However noble it may be to show the true nature of life on the ground in Afghanistan, and despite the risks Shah and her cameraman took in getting their footage, they make her subject’s truthfulness suspect by packaging it in the conventions of slick Hollywood movie-making.

AVIE HERN

Los Angeles