Osama Movie Review:


Winner of two awards at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, this gripping and powerful film tells a story from a deeply isolated place and time: when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan. It's about a woman and her 12-year-old daughter (Sahar and Golbahari) moving through the streets of their desolated town trying to find ways to feed themselves and the woman's mother (Refah). The men in the family have all been killed in various wars, and under Taliban rule a woman is persona non grata--unable to travel on her own. So the mother convinces her daughter to cut her hair and dress as a boy named Osama so they can go to work in their village. But soon the Taliban come through collecting boys for religious education, and "Osama" is taken along, protected by her friend Espandi (Herati) but always under the threat of discovery.

"I wish God hadn't created women," the mother sighs in the film's opening scenes, which document a female protest that's brutally squashed by Taliban forces. Through this film, writer-director Barmak takes us deep into his home culture to experience the fear and tragedy firsthand. The script and camerawork are clever and extremely accomplished, giving us an intimate view of the characters and situations, while disarmingly natural performances make it feel almost like a documentary! This is a chilling examination of the imprisonment of women under fanatical Muslim rule as they are locked up in their burkhas, jail cells and harems. Not to mention being deprived of education and even basic freedoms. But more universally, this is a look at extremism gone mad, and here we in the West can learn a thing or two about a manipulative system that leads to deception and a rejection of even the most basic human rights. If we think this doesn't happen in our countries we are living in blind ignorance! While the film is extremely involving and believable, it's also a little too forcefully didactic; the story is often horrific, emotional and somewhat preachy. Yet there's such truth here that it can't be ignored.

Rich Cline

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