The new Crocodile Dundee

I finally got round to seeing Out of the Ashes last night, at the ICA in London. For those of you who haven’t heard about it, it’s the story of the Afghanistan cricket team and their almost-unbelievable rise through the world rankings.

It’s wonderful, of course, but perhaps in ways that you wouldn’t imagine. For a start, it’s not really a film about cricket at all. It’s about the personalities involved within the team, it’s about Crocodile Dundee-style culture shock (well, can you think of any two places more different than Kabul and Jersey?), and above all, it’s about Afghanistan.

It’s also about that staple of movies of all genres, triumph over adversity. One of my favourite bits is when batsman Hasti Gul Abed explains how the team’s new coach (who replaced the film’s real star, Taj Malik) has made them more professional. ‘He tells us to drink water and use the swimming pool,’ he says.

Don’t miss it. It’s on at the ICA until 7th November. There’s more information here.