Osama
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Movie Reviews of Osama
Movie Review: A Harrowing Drama
Summary: 5 Stars
"Osama" tells the story of what life was like under the Taliban in Afghanistan. At the beginning of the film, we see a mass demonstration of women in burkas who are demanding the right to work, since they're starving. Soon, the Taliban come and round up the demonstrating women and put them in trucks. Shortly thereafter, a widowed doctor dresses up her girl as a boy to work, going by the name Osama, and prevent starvation. Soon, she is rounded up with all the other Afghan boys for religious training. She is constantly struggling to keep her secret from getting out, and is bullied by the boys for her feminine features. I will not give away the ending, except to say that it is not a good one.
One online reviewer said that Osama is not so much a story as a record of life during a particular period, and that's exactly what it is. The director Siddiq Barmak used no professional actors, and shot the whole film in Afghanistan, giving a "you are there" feeling. One really well-done aspect of "Osama" is that, though the Taliban do some very inhuman things, they are never portrayed as inhuman; they simply do what people would do when they enshrine religious fanaticism as the governing principle of society. Highly recommended.
Movie Review: Not popcorn entertainment
Summary: 5 Stars
Make no mistake, this movie is a masterpiece, but a depressing one. The other reviewers have commented on the basic plot--a widowed family turns the teenager daughter into a boy so that she can work and earn food for the family--I will comment on the directing by Barmak. Obviously, Afghanistan is not known for cinema, yet the imagery that Barmak creates is worthy of the highest praise. This isn't some cheap student film, this is an accomplished work of art. The image of Osama skipping rope behind the bars of a jail, of her dangling in a well screaming, of the preparation for the stoning, and the final sequence--which I will not reveal, but is foreshadowed--these are better visualized than most of what Hollywood puts out when it "tries" to be "dramatic". Thankfully the film is fairly short, 82 minutes, or it might have become unbearable.
The only good thing about the film, is that after the fall of the Taliban, such treatment of women is receding into history. There are terrorist attacks still there, but 38% of the registered voters in Afghanistan today are women, a major success story compared to what women underwent earlier, as shown in this film.
Movie Review: The Land of No Happy Endings
Summary: 5 Stars
There's a part of you that continually roots for the little girl in OSAMA who lives in a nightmare world of barbarism and fanaticism.
But there's also a creeping realization that there could be no happy ending in such a place. Part of the horror of this film is that it rings so true. I've read the endles news accounts and books about the Taliban rule of Afghanistan. It's heartbreaking and outrageous.
This film, apparently made by Afghan filmmakers after the end of the Taliban rule, is as well-made as any Western film. The production values are outstanding. The acting is good and the writing sharply exposes the madness of this tyranny.
A part of me wants to recommend this film as something everyone should see for its stark message of the bleak lives of women under Taliban rule...but I don't want any political motive to detract from the power of the story and the filmmaking.
You've heard about what this system was like. Now see how it looks and feels.
Movie Review: A tale of loss and sorrows . . .
Summary: 5 Stars
As many of the reviews here already indicate, this is a sobering film that explores the soul-crushing impact of the Taliban's "holy" reformist practices on the people of Afghanistan during their five years ruling the country. The director's comments on the DVD in a short interview about the film make the point that the spirit of a once proud people had been shattered by the particular extremes of tyranny that imposed draconian restrictions, especially the repressive treatment of women, and ruled by fear and the threat of public executions. In every frame, the film reveals the grim truth of his observation, and the viewer is left with a more universal message about the human condition, that a people can be so utterly intimidated and cut off from their own culture. It is an Orwellian vision of bleakness and unutterable sadness.
A beautifully told, wonderfully performed and photographed film. Also recommended: "Kandahar," which tells a similar story of loss and sorrows.
Movie Review: No 'chick flick' or date movie thats for sure ....
Summary: 5 Stars
This Golden Globe winner is just one fabulous movie .... don't know how they did it .....
This is a movie with a documentary detail and information. We all more or less have an idea of the Taliban and their brutal religious administration of Afghanistan but its another matter to see it portrayed in a real life type of story as a young woman and her daughter are just trying to survive the daily religious stupidity and cruelty.
The movie of course is in Pashtun and has very good English subtitles ... well from what I cam see anyway I don't speak Pashtun ... The photography is stunning in it's bleakness and amazingly enough I would even venture to say the movie actually does not protray the absolute cruelty these women must go through to have lived in that time .....
But I mean after you stone, shoot or whatever to people asny further torture would just be ridiculous anyway ...