Osama
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Movie Reviews of Osama
Movie Review: Thought provoking on many levels.
Summary: 5 Stars
In the opening scene of Osama we see a group of rebelling women marching down a dusty road for the rights of women to work. As was allegedly under Taliban custom, women were not permitted to work outside of the home. In Osama, for one young girl in particular and her family this meant starvation. With few (or no) options, her mother and grandmother cut her hair and dressed her up to appear like a boy, giving her the freedom to find work, and certainly the movie lent itself to depicting an acute sense of fear over her being exposed. In Osama we see images - that would understandably appear to us as a bankrupt way of. Even if this movie had just a modicum of truth, prejudice and intolerance becomes all the more frightening. One gets the sense watching Osama that this is, understandably, a one sided film. As viewers, we need understand our role to assess the actual veracity of the depictions. If the movie has but a modicum of truth, as mentioned previously, then it has succeeded in showing us the darker side of the human condition.. One of the most startling portrayals certainly is the filmmakers/writers sense of the treatment of women. The sense one gets is that the primary aim of Osama is to illustrate how women are oppressed and not to communicate the fullness of a life - or the totality of their experience - and it could also be argued that in Afghanistan there is (or was) a lack thereof. As with most movies of this genre Osama is meant to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. We need to ask this question when watching movies of this sort: Is this film about an honest depictions of a way of life that for a lot of women is about repression, derision, and the suffocating two-facedness of their male counterparts? This is not a film that was meant to rekindle memories of pastoral days or walks down the beach, and although it has been informative in illustrating some of the realities it seeks to portray, it earnestly attempts to open viewer's eyes to the condition of a people who up until recently `outsiders' have not been privy to. The film is sold as a "true story," and while some may split hairs about just how honest the filmmakers are (and they would be right in being cynical about this `mocumentary'), there is no questioning some of the disturbing realism and it should be disturbing. We straddle the difficult divide watching movies of this kind - that of it being a fictional depiction, on the one hand, and an attempt to portray a reality on the other. The viewer is left with the responsibility to decipher fact from fiction, truth from sensationalism. The viewer should, in the end, have, at least, the ability to understand the duality of `fully human' versus man's ability and propensity to abuse power. That Osama is thought provoking is beyond doubt. That it is completely factual is understandably suspect to those who provide checks and balances. We all need to be cautious of unreflective acceptance in any case no mater which side of the fence one sits - even if you set up the problematic as such. In the end, we are left with one human being looking to develop to one's fullest potential and the discourse of power meant to deprive it/her of the same. We should walk away form this, not with an intolerant sense about one culture but the very real sense that power can and is abused - and that it should be questioned and in most cases opposed. If Director Siddiq Barmak is to leave us with one impression lasting - at least let it be that. Watch it and judge for yourself.
Miguel Llora
Movie Review: Simply Extraordinary!!
Summary: 5 Stars
When Osama won the Best Foreign Picture nomination in the Golden Globe Awards, I had some suspicions that in addition to it being a very good film, that this award was also a kind of 'encouragement and support' for the first film to come out of Afghanistan after the fall of Talibans.Watching it now, I can confidently say that it totally deserved to win on artistic merits alone, and wonder why on earth it was overlooked in the Oscars??!!The film, the first by Afghani director Siddiq Barmak, is simply extraordinary! The story is of a mother and daughter who are trying to make basic ends meet under Taliban's repressive and cruel rule, and this can be achieved if the young daughter,played with such simplicity and power by amateur Marina Golbahari, disguises herself as a boy to earn a living as women were forbidden to work.
Soon enough, in a roundup of underage boys, similar to Mao's China, or Pol Pot's Cambodia, the very ideologies that the Mujjahedines were allegedly fighting against under the Soviets,the boys are forced to go to a religious and military brainwashing school, and 'Osama' mistaken for one is forced along.
Not wishing to give too much of the film, save to say that the girl's identity is discovered and what follows is one of the most tragic and haunting development and ending I have seen in a long while.
I would like to stress that Osama first of all is not about Talibans, although quite naturally they figure prominently in the story, itself based on true events, nor it is about Afghanistan, although it perfectly reflects a society that was totally engulfed in darkness and secrecy,not unlike Hoxa's Albania or Stalin's Russia. Osama rather can be viewed as the very heartbreaking and tragic story of a young girl facing impossible odds and unable to fight the huge tide that has swept her country. It is about how desperation and poverty can push people to take huge risks, knowing very well the terrible consequences..
I loved the fact that this young girl kept till the end her innocence mixed with fear and longing, that the Talibans eventually destroyed.
I could not help comparing the film with Iranian cinema in terms of style and plot,and it is not surprising since Barmak was influenced and supported by none other than Makhmelbaf Snr.The cinematographer also is the excellent Ebrahim Ghafori who has shot some of the classics of Iranian cinema like The Apple, Blackboards, The Day I became I Woman and Kandahar.
There were some similarities with Majidi's Baran, but unlike the Afghani refugee heroine of Baran who also dressed as a boy to earn a living after her father's accident but was relatively safe in Iran,'Osama' was totally trapped, faced danger and death every single minute, and did not have the opportunities however limited that Baran had.
Osama therefore is a Must See film.It will capture your senses with its colors and themes, a story that reminds us that there are people not quite so fortunate,who face daily battles just to secure one meal, and take any risks to maintain a dignity and freedom that is constantly being stripped away from them.
Movie Review: Affecting the soul...
Summary: 5 Stars
Pros: no sets, real locations, real people, real stories. A brutally honest view of an Afghanistan that was repressed under totalitarian rule. Wonderful organization and interpretation of life.
Cons: (for some) no happy ending. Walking away feeling beaten up...almost hopeless.
When I saw this movie, I thought that another Westerner was trying to play up the implied grievances of our current military operations. When I checked out the special features on the DVD and watched "Sharing Hope and Freedom" with the director, Siddiq Barmak, I realized that this was a movie made by one who knew Afghanistan, who lived in Afghanistan, and who (probably) saw the true face of the Taliban. This film has the power to affect your core so deeply when you understand that it is not necessarily fiction but a depiction of life in an oppressive and dark world.
The film is based on a collaboration of stories that Barmak had seen or had heard of from friends over the course of the Taliban's reign. The movie itself seems to represent unfound and desired freedoms from behind veils and prisoner's locks. "Osama" traces the life of a girl who (unwillingly) changes her identity for the sake of her mother and grandmother. There is an air of hopelessness throughout the entire movie and no Hollywood style happy-ending is found within its breadth.
What is communicated is the hardship that life can be under a tyrannical society whose doctrines have been mutated in such a way as to demean the worth of women for the sake of masculine prominence and power. Osama is more than a statement of how awful life can be for a women in a Muslim world that degenerates females, but truly how awful life is apart from the rightfully recognized dignity of human beings. In such a society, only those who have already obtained power retain their dignity, and their desires are acted out in such a way that selfish arrogance is pronounced in such a loud fashion as to portray them as monsters.
Burmak's casting was phenomenal. He sought out regular people to give the film a "natural" feel. These children don't seem as if they are acting as you can see that the fear of death and seclusion are still fresh on their hearts. The despair that you see in so many faces is what really exists in a nation that not only needs to rebuild its infrastructure and economy, but also its population's dignity (as Burmak states in his interview). These are a people who are rediscovering their worth.
"Osama" is the type of reality show that we won't normally see in a nation that enjoys freedom of speech and the protections therein. It's an awful kick to the stomach to see how lives are destroyed, manipulated, and demeaned for the sake of personal pleasure. It is a movie that you may not like, but may come to love for its honesty and personal ambiance.
Watch this movie - not because it is entertaining, but because it is true.
Movie Review: Part of Why America Was Correct to Throw Out the Talibans
Summary: 5 Stars
The film is about the plight of women in Afghanistan during the Talibans. Osama is the name taken up by a young Afghan girl, who is forced to pretend she is a boy in order to earn money for her family (all men are gone or dead) so they would not starve to death. The Talibans have forbidden women to work, to go outside without a man, to go to school, or to do much of anything else, and they beat, torture, rape, and murder anyone who dares to oppose them, or be critical of them. Little "Osama" lives amid this madness and cruelty, which the film captures -- only the heartless will fail to see and be moved (as with some radical-left reviewers here at Amazon). She bravely ventures out onto the streets alone, dressed as a boy, and so the story goes from there, with little Osama finally being discovered and sold off into sexual slavery to a pedophile Mullah. It was made by native Afghans, and is authentic, giving the viewer a first-hand look into what life was like for girls, women, and honest men also under the Talibans. Anyone who today considers that "nothing has changed" since the American-led invasion should see this film -- forget Michael Moore's malicious fantasy, this is far more of a "documentary" than his flatulence -- to understand that even while women still wear the burka in many parts of Afghanistan, the fact that they can go out and hold a job, walk outside without a male relative escorting them, not be beaten up by bearded women-hating fanatics if they accidentally show a bit of skin, and regain substantial power over other basic life decisions, is nothing short of a major revolution. And facts be known, in many parts of Afghanistan, the burka is being given up altogether. The Talibans are not completely gone, however, and both they and their cousins as embodied by the al-Qaeda car-bombers and assassins in Iraq (now in control of Fallujah, for example, where Sharia Law has been imposed) are deliberately targeting for murder all western-looking women, women's rights and education groups, voter registration activists, and virtually any and all Iraqi citizens who are happy enough to emulate the Western lifestyle, or merely to enjoy the new freedoms. This film will give you a background of the ordinary person's interaction with such religious fanatics as the Talibans, who make conservative Christians in the USA appear as flaming liberals! For this reason, we find the ironic situation where liberal political groups in Iraq and Afghanistan, who are genuinely concerned for freedom, democracy, justice, human rights, freedom of speech and press, and women's liberation, are big supporters of the Bush policy (and of G.W. Bush personally) being very happy at the demise of the Talibans and Baathist murderers, at the same time liberal political groups in the USA (claiming interest in the same issues) are against the Bush policy and person. Ironic indeed!Movie Review: Shockingly Bold
Summary: 5 Stars
A very different movie from the usual Hollywood ones - first of its kind from Afghanistan taken after the Taliban regime.
The story is around a girl (Marina Golbahari) turning into a boy, Osama - just for survival. The family not able to survive without the father in the family, mother unable to work as the hospital where she worked was closed by Taliban. Mother and Grandmother decide to disguise the daughter to a boy - of course not physiologically - but just by cutting her hair and putting her father's altered clothes - so that (s)he can work for their bread. The boy works for the friend's grocery shop, gets caught by the Taliban for training, the identity revealed and as a punishment gets prisoned and while ready for death by stones, escapes and gets married to an old man.
The director (Siddiq Barmark) must be very artistic - some of the scenes are extra-ordinarily beautiful - especially the mother tearing the photos of the boy's youth hood in case he/she will be caught, the marriage function turning into a death one, the girl planting her hair, the granny telling the stories and meticulously taken - be it the barren street or the spokes and the exposed legs or the relationship between Osama and Espandi (Arif Herati), the only one who knows the secret - just a wow!
The director must also be very bold to take this kind of movie - of course he could, as the Taliban regime is over, deserves real appreciation to bring this as a movie to reach the mass while all we were hearing through news channels.
You cannot stop getting emotional when you see Osama getting caught for being identified as a girl. Even the strong hearts will cry for sure. The girl has done a fabulous job for the role - eyes filled with peril always - that she could be caught anytime. Be it in the religious training camp or while doing prayer or even while heading home, trying her best to talk in a male voice - she has lived the character.
Interestingly the movie had a different kind of flavor too mixed - suspense - the audience is at grip always when her identity will be revealed. Sometimes the movie felt more like a documentary as it is based on facts - girl turning to boy has happened during the Taliban rule as the director recalls. Also the movie stands outstanding for the low budget involved - all the credit going to the amateur cast (Marina was a beggar in Afghanistan), bold and genius director, the editor for the pace, and the photographer
The movie deserves appreciation for exposing some of the bold facts of the Taliban rule - punishment through stoning, old guys marrying young girls, women least respected etc. The horrifying end for the journalist who takes the documentary remains a huge shock for a while.
We feel happy that those women are at last free!