The available reviews lean positive on Kandahar, with praise clustering around its images and its account of suffering under the Taliban. Critics describe a humanitarian appeal that is moving, disturbing and accessible, particularly in its attention to the treatment of women. The journey gives that suffering concrete form through the people encountered along the way. Images of amputees seeking prosthetic limbs and a wedding procession crossing sand dunes receive particular praise for making the film’s concerns memorable.
The reservations that can be verified concern the storytelling. Slant Magazine finds stretches heavy-handed and scattered, though still evocative; Eye for Film notes an unconventional, open-ended structure without losing confidence in the film. The recorded scores range from mixed to enthusiastic, with none negative, but four entries lack accessible verdicts. That limits how firmly their reservations can be described: the available material establishes shared praise more clearly than substantive disagreement.