Osama Movie Review 2003

First post-Taliban movie produced in Afghanistan shows the oppression suffered by women under that regime in the story of a young girl forced to pose as a boy. Osama (Golbahari) breaks the law, disguising herself to work in a grocery to support her family after her father and brother are killed. This ends quickly as she's rounded up with all the boys of her village and forced into the local religious/military training camp run by the Taliban, where she does everything she can to keep her disguise from being discovered. Director Barmak has an exceptional eye for detail and uses hand-held cameras and nonprofessional actors on the streets of Kabul to create a brutally realistic portrait of Afghanistan under the Taliban. A brilliant, intense portrait of one girl's quest to survive hopelessness, horrible cruelty, and overbearing oppression. In Dari with English subtitles.

Distribution

MGM Home Entertainment, 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA 90404-6061, Phone: (310)449-3000, Fax: (310)449-3100, URL: http://www.mgmhomevideo.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on DVD
Running time 82 minutes.
Originally from Japanese, Irish.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Middle East, Child Abuse, Islam, Childhood Visions

Screenplay

Siddiq Barmak

Cast

Marina Golbahari, Arif Herati, Zubaida Sahar

Cinematography

Ebraheem Ghafouri

Director

Siddiq Barmak

Music

Mohammad Reza Darvishi

Other

Behrouz Shahamat, Siddiq Barmak, Akbar Meshkini