Osama
 | Directed by Siddiq Barmak Starring: Marina Golbahari, Mohamad Nader Khadjeh, Zubaida Sahar, Arif Herati, Mohamad Haref Harati MGM (Video & DVD), 2003, DVD Customer Rating: 91 reviews Recommend |
|---|
Inspired by a true story, this Golden GlobeÂ(r)-winning* drama is the first film made in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban. Hailed by critics as 'stunning (Entertainment Weekly), breathtaking (Slant) and 'emotionally charged (Screen International), Osama is a striking work of cinematic art (L.A. Weekly). After the brutal Taliban regime bans women from working and forbids them to leave their homes without a male escort, a 12-year old girland her mother find themselves on the brink of starvation. With nowhere left to turn, the mother disguises her daughter as a boy. Now called Osama, the young girl embarks on a terrifying and confusing journey as she tries to keep the Taliban from discovering her true identity. *2003: Foreign Language Film
The first movie produced by Afghanistan filmmakers after the fall of the Taliban, Osama is a searing portrait of life under the oppressive fundamentalist regime. Because women are not allowed to work, a widow disguises her young daughter (Marina Golbahari) as a boy so they won't starve to death. Simply walking the streets is frightening enough, but when the disguised girl is rounded up with all the boys in the town for religious training, her peril becomes absolutely harrowing. Golbahari's face — beautiful but taut with terror — is riveting. The movie captures both her plight and the miseries of daily life in spare, vivid images. At one point, her mother is nearly killed for exposing her feet while riding on the back of a bicycle; for the entire scene, the camera shows only her feet, with the spokes of the wheel radiating out behind as she lowers her burka over them. — Bret Fetzer
Title: Osama
Sales Rank: 30439 in DVD
Actor: Marina Golbahari, Mohamad Nader Khadjeh, Zubaida Sahar, Arif Herati, Mohamad Haref Harati
Director: Siddiq Barmak
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD), 2004-04-27, Theatrical Release: 2003
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC, Acpect Ratio 1.85:1
Languages: Arabic (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Subtitled)
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region Code: 1
Running Time: 83 minutes
Item Dimensions: 1 pounds
Package Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.42 x 0.58 inches, 0.18 pounds
- Rent it. Buy it.
- The title might suggest that this film is about Osama bin Laden, but it's not. This is an amazing story about a young girl in very difficult circumstances. It's not an easy film to watch, and it raises some very serious questions about the plight of widows, women and children in a fundamentalist environment. Bono has been quoted as saying something to the… More reviews
- If you seek to understand...
- Like another reviewer, I cried while watching this film. I knew the premise, and suspected what the ending would hold, but watched it anyway, for the sake of understanding. This is a film which cries out to be seen by women around the world. It is beyond my comprehension that now, in 2008, after all that women have endured, some of us are still dominated… More reviews
- Dull and predictable
- Osama is touted as the first film made in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban, and it was shot in Kabul. That should be a warning. Works of art that are touted as the first this or that tend to be bad, their only distinction being their chronological primacy. Such was the case with the atrocious Eskimo film of a few years back called… More reviews
- Stunning and Depressing
- Brilliant movie with a depressing ending. Don't buy it if sad movies make you depressed. More reviews
- Taliban
- Last night I saw one of the most moving videos I have ever seen, "Osama." It is the true story of a 12 year old girl living in Afghanistan during the Taliban. Incredibly well acted with amazing cinematography and filmed in Kabul, the little girl had to become a "boy" in order to save from starving her mother and grandmother.
Her father was… More reviews
