All left alone at the condo as 2006 is coming to a close and I spent it watching Osama, the film by the Afghan director Siddiq Barmak. Its not about the Islamic leader but about a girl who, in order for her family, all women (the mother and grandmother) to survive, she must become a boy named Osama as it was not allowed by the Taliban, when they ruled Afghanistan, for women to go out unaccompanied by a male. Beyond the poignant visuals and topnotch cinematography, its a true story of the shattered country itself. Different stories, different experiences of a proud people under the Taliban, as these filtered out of the country, adroitly woven into a whole.
It also offers a glimpse of what has become of Afghanistan during the rule of the ideological Talibans: from a backdrop replete with destroyed buildings or what’s left of it, to customs practiced in secret lest they be arrested. In one scene, a group of women singing and dancing for a newlywed quickly transformed into a group of crying ladies grieving for a supposed dead mother when two Talibans came to check out the noise. Three scenes that really makes an impression:
- one of the more disturbing scenes are those of young boys and adolescents rounded up for a few hours each day for Islamic teachings and military practices
- the rather haphazard way “offenders” are punished by way of a firing squad or being stoned to death because of supposed offenses against the Islamic way that the Taliban adheres. Pointing a camera at a high ranking Taliban is one.
- Osama having been spared death (yes, even if she was just a girl) for pretending to be a boy after being interceded by an influencial mullah for him to take as another one of his wives was led into the room, took out a series of locks and let her chose which one she likes!
But then, this is Aphganistan, Taliban time.
Cast by virtual unknowns and natural actors (the lead hadn’t even seen a movie or television in her life as these were not allowed by the Talibans), the film has won the 2004 Best Foreign Film in the prestigious Golden Globe Awards and has also been a winner for the Camera d’Or, Special Mention in the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. As the New York Post said: “Beautiful. Simply Extraordinary.”
I agree.
Search
One comment for this post
Leave a Comment
I think the director found the lead (Marina Golbahari) begging in the streets of Kabul or someother place in Afghanistan. She’s very beautiful; and I felt strange watching it because she looked like someone I know.