A merry band of Afghani marauders — none old enough to qualify for a driver’s license — extort heroin from locals, scavenge old Russian tanks for scrap metal, swap landmines for gemstones and cheerfully argue over who gets to eat the brains and eyeballs of a roasted goat. Pieter-Jan De Pue shot this extraordinary 16mm film over the course of seven years, creating and capturing a world that is intensely emotional, at times terrifyingly immersive and always gloriously visual. Interspersed between the boys’ adventures are visits to a U.S. Army encampment carved into the side of a mountain cliff. But when the visiting armies pack up and return home, the fallout of the warfare visited upon the country becomes clear. Afghanistan has been occupied by a new breed of canny, fearless survivors who vow to rebuild what has been destroyed. (JS)