Osama film review

certificate_12A

OSAMA

Shot in post-Taliban Afghanistan in extremely trying conditions Osama is a harrowing account of life under the oppressive regime that fell after September 11. The film has won an impressive number of awards since it first appeared at film festivals last year, culminating with the 2004 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film. As anything as outlandish as film-making was banned under the Taliban, it is director Siddiq Barmak's first official outing, although having gained a film degree from the University of Moscow in the late 80s, it is clear that this is no amateur talent.

Reminiscent in style to the work of the Iranian director Samira Makhmalbaf (Blackboards, At Five in the Afternoon), Western audiences used to Hollywood's commercial fare may initially find Barmak's film rather naïve in both the manner it is shot and the style of acting. It is often hand-held and jumpy and the actors are all non-professional.

Nevertheless there is a star in the making thanks to the girl playing the lead role, Marina Golbahari. At the beginning of the film she plays a twelve-year-old girl who lives with her mother after the death of her father and brother. But when the Taliban close down the hospital her mother works in, the two are left destitute. Until her mother has an idea: to cut the daughter's hair, dress her as a boy and name her Osama.

The ploy works - to begin with - as Osama finds some petty employment looking after a neighbour's shop. But when the Taliban come searching, she/he is discovered and sent to the official training school for young Taliban fighters. There Osama is surrounded by male pupils and teachers, as the oppressive government didn't even recognise women as second class citizens.

As Osama realises she is not going to be able to fool her peers for long, she decides to escape, but in doing so only raises an alarm that has catastrophic consequences. Many of the scenes in the film are played out without words, and some of the final harrowing sequences will bring a lump to the throat.

This is a remarkable and rare insight into a world that until now has remained shrouded in non-democratic secrecy. The filming is simple, but the end message is powerful, upsetting and eye-opening.