Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

The Beauty Academy of Kabul

Play trailer Poster for The Beauty Academy of Kabul 2004 1h 14m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
87% Tomatometer 53 Reviews 57% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
With backing from American cosmetics industries, a group of stylists travels to post-Taliban Afghanistan to teach women about their hair and using makeup.
The Beauty Academy of Kabul

What to Know

Critics Consensus

There's nothing frivolous about beauty school when hearing about the individual lives of these women in Afghanistan, and the contrast between them and the idealistic beauticians from America.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View More
Andrea Gronvall Chicago Reader 12/15/2006
Most of the students had suffered or witnessed horrific abuses and crimes under the Taliban, yet the film shows two fatuous U.S. instructors who clearly missed the sensitivity training. Go to Full Review
Andrew O'Hehir Salon.com 12/15/2006
a spiny, puzzling and highly entertaining film, and whatever you go into it thinking, you're likely to come out thinking something else. Go to Full Review
Michael Booth Denver Post 07/14/2006
2.5/4
Any film that raises this many interesting questions is worth seeing, though Beauty Academy never goes quite deep enough to become essential. Go to Full Review
Jonathan Kiefer Sacramento News & Review 08/07/2008
3/5
Ken Hanke Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) 03/14/2007
4/5
Captures the essence of Americans' sense of empowerment and innate goodness -- and our cultural myopia. Go to Full Review
Maria Garcia Film Journal International 03/01/2007
It is that lack of small-minded judgment which distinguishes The Beauty Academy of Kabul and which makes it thoughtful, yet so much fun to watch. Go to Full Review
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
03/07/2013 Pretty straight-forward watch. I thought the most poignant part were the two hairdressers who fled Afghanistan in the 1980s and were back to teach at the school. The Americans are portrayed as obnoxious and ignorant, but I don't know how much of that is a result of editing. I read "Kabul Beauty School" by Debbie Rodriguez earlier this year and I wasn't shocked to see that she was the most obnoxious American. There's been some controversy over the accuracy of her book and I thought the movie was a good addition to the stuff in the book. See more 07/24/2012 What is best about this documentary is that it is not only about a group of women helping another group of women half way around the world. It is about the daily life of this Afghan women, how there are trying to have a shred of normality in a country that it is in chaos. See more 05/29/2011 We are so blessed to live in the USA. See more 01/09/2011 Amazing, brave Afghan women. Crazy, entitled American women. See more 05/20/2010 This is a great documentary! I highly recommend it. One part of the film that upset me was how some of the American instructors spoke to the women with a sense of Western ignorance. There's a reason these women can't "rebel" as much as you would want them to; they could be killed. See more 06/16/2009 Give this little doc a shot. There are some grimace-worthy cultural difference moments between the Americans and the Pakistani women that make for good viewing. In the end it's all about sisterhood and true beauty. See more Read all reviews
The Beauty Academy of Kabul

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
Beyond Belief 85% 89% Beyond Belief Watchlist A Decent Factory 57% % A Decent Factory Watchlist Afghan Stories 100% % Afghan Stories Watchlist OT: Our Town 88% 77% OT: Our Town Watchlist The Boys of Baraka 76% 87% The Boys of Baraka Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis With backing from American cosmetics industries, a group of stylists travels to post-Taliban Afghanistan to teach women about their hair and using makeup.
Director
Liz Mermin
Producer
Liz Mermin, Nigel Noble
Distributor
Wellspring Media
Production Co
Noble Enterprise
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 4, 2004, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Mar 24, 2006
Release Date (DVD)
Dec 19, 2006
Box Office (Gross USA)
$225.3K
Runtime
1h 14m