Osama

At first what seems to be a documentary about the Taliban in Afghanistan soon becomes a deeply moving and personal portrait of the effects of this oppressive regime on a young girl and her widowed mother. Caught up in a demonstration by women protesting the right to work, the girl and her mother drenched by water cannon take refuge off the street with a young boy (who will again in the future come to their aid). The mother works at the local hospital but is soon unable to continue as the grip of the evil enforced by the Taliban intensifies and women without a man present are not even allowed on the street. Hungry and unable to work the mother disguises her daughter as a boy and, as a boy, she gains employment with a sympathetic shop owner. The girl, now “Osama”, is forcibly taken from the shop to be indoctrinated with other young boys into the extremist philosophy of the Taliban. Her true sex is soon discovered and her sorrowful plight leaves the viewer totally despairing. Immaculate in narrative construction and shot beautifully (even though in the most harsh of environments and subject matter) impressive first time director Barmak realises this bleak and upsetting story with an assured authority. The first feature film shot in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban. Based on a true story. Awards include winner of Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and Special Mention at Cannes for the Camera d’Or.