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Osama (2003) directed by Siddiq Barmak
ivana - wrote on 01/09/09
A spectacular film that transmits a calamity during the Taliban invasion of Afghanistan, where 12 year old girl Osama lives with her widowed mother who had lost her last grip to hope: a son. This requires the child to look and dress like a boy so as to work and ensure daily bread to her all-female family left with no income.
Osama is spotted working and is therefore considered a future Taliban who is gathered along with male youngsters in order to prepare for manhood in the Taliban military training. With the vain support of a bribed young village beggar who is aware of the girl’s secret, suspicious Osama is punished for not being able to climb a tree, which would have been a proof of masculinity for the strict Taliban instructors. Her physiology then could not help but reveal her saddening curse of being nothing but the shadow of a female lost within a world ruled by masculinity. She is therefore put on trial in front of the Taliban court in order to be executed, but is “pardoned” by being sentenced to marry an old Mullah instead.
For a first afghan film to be made, this movie did not go unnoticed, winning a golden globe award for “best foreign language movie”. This movie itself is a colossal revolt against the Taliban, reproducing them as barbaric and perverse.
In the film, it is ironic that Osama is not physically executed but rather sentenced to marry the old Mullah, which reveals to be nothing but an execution itself, a mental execution which leaves no more purpose to the persistence of breathing at all. Any viewer would describe an emerging feeling of great mutiny throughout watching the film. A great feeling of loathing towards the Taliban combined with a great feeling of compassion towards Osama and her family who had even come to lose the mere chance of hiding in a disguise. On the other hand, this movie could easily be interpreted as revolting concerning its portrayal of the islamic religion.
This movie focuses and relies heavily on visuals, lingering more than expected on quite a few poignant scenes, as well as creating some sort of visual catchphrases by repeatedly displaying certain elements or sounds.
