THE WAKHAN FRONT ***

High in the mountains of Afghanistan something very strange is happening. Soldiers of a French platoon fighting the Taliban begin to vanish, as if into thin air; then the remaining soldiers discover that members of the Taliban are disappearing, too. Clement Cogitore's superb movie, "The Wakhan Front" (aka "Neither Heaven Nor Earth"), has been described by its director as 'Ford meets Shyamalan'; others have compared it to Antonioni. Perhaps it's best to think of it as "The Hurt Locker" crossed with some 1950's sci-fi paranoia picture.

Director Cogitore, making his feature debut, brings a documentary feel to his highly unconventional war movie which naturally plays out like a ghost story. The only recognisable face in a fine cast is Jeremie Renier as the captain trying to come to terms with the inexplicable while sound and imagery are perfectly deployed to create a sense of unreality out of something very real and physical. This is certainly a major movie by a filmmaker with a real future ahead of him and it's been shamefully ignored.