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Osama
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MPAA RATING: PG-13 for mature thematic elements
Starring Marina Golbahari, Arif Herati, Zubaida Sahar, Gol Rahman Ghorbandi, Mohamad Haref Harati, Mohamad Nader Khadjeh, Khwaja Nader, and Hamida Refah
A 12-year-old Afghan girl and her mother lose their jobs when the Taliban closes the hospital where they work. Feeling she has no choice, the mother disguises her daughter as a boy. Now called Osama, the girl embarks on a terrifying and confusing journey as she tries to keep the Taliban from finding out her true identity. (United Artists)
| GENRE(S): | Drama | Foreign |
| WRITTEN BY: | Siddiq Barmak |
| DIRECTED BY: | Siddiq Barmak |
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: April 27, 2004 Video: April 27, 2004 Theatrical: February 6, 2004 |
| RUNNING TIME: | 82 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: | Afghanistan / Japan / Ireland |
| LANGUAGE(S): | Pashtu (with English subtitles) |
Nominated, Best Foreign Language Film, 2003 Golden Globes
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The average user rating for this movie is 7.3 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Mud gave it a0:
women used to experience safety and freedom in the time of taliban and the regime was not6 evil as being presented in the western media to justify the killing of innocent people in Afghanistan by America after they themselves conducted the twin tower blasts see loose change to know the truth.
A very good movie I thought. Powerful and disturbing at times. American women and whining kids here who think they have it bad should see this movie. I sincerely hope Marina Golbahari realizes her dream of being an actress. She was excellent. A very good movie.
Dan gave it a9:
Beautiful, elegant, unflinching, profound.
dan l. gave it a9:
The ending is the best part even tho ppl said they didnt like it.
Niall M. gave it an8:
The winner of the Golden Globe for Best Foreign-Language Film, Osama is a heartbreaking depiction of life under the brutal Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Filmed over the course of year, this spare and artfully told drama from Siddiq Barmak has a gritty authenticity reminiscent of the Italian neo-realist films of Vittorio De Sica (The Bicycle Thief) and Roberto Rossellini (Open City). A cast of non-professionals, many of whom Barmak discovered on the street or in refugee camps, gives uniformly fine performances in a profoundly moving story that demonstrates the power of art to enlighten and entertain. Shot on location in the bombed-out streets of Kabul, Osama puts a very human face on the Taliban's oppression of women. A young girl (the expressive Marina Golhahari) lives with her widowed mother (Zubaida Sahar) and grandmother in abject poverty. Forbidden to leave the house without a male escort, the girl's mother cuts her daughter's hair so she can pass as a boy. Although she's terrified of being exposed, the young girl goes to work for a kindly shopkeeper who fought alongside her late fath r against the Soviets. Unfortunately, the girl's delicate features and ignorance of religious custom arouse the suspicions of a Taliban leader. He forces her to attend a religious school/Taliban training camp, where she struggles to blend in with the other boys. A street urchin (Aref Herati) who knows her secret becomes her protector. To that end, he introduces her as Osama, but no matter how hard she tries to pass as male, she is ultimately betrayed by her own physiology. While Osama is Barmak's first film, it feels like the work of an experienced director who knows that "less is more." Barmak doesn't linger over the horrors of life under the Taliban or milk the heroine's story for pathos. He tells the story simply and honestly, with refreshing economy (the film has a running time of only 82 minutes). Working with his gifted cinematographer Ebrahim Ghafuri, Barmak takes viewers deep into a world that most of us know only superficially from the nightly news. It's often difficult to watch—the sheer cruelty of the Taliban leaders is particularly disturbing—but Osama is a movie that needs to be seen. Over the last few years, several Middle Eastern films have won international acclaim for depicting the repression of women under Islamic law. Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi courted controversy with The Circle (2000), a heartfelt episodic drama that strongly critiques Iranian society. The Day I Became A Woman (2001) is a beautifully filmed exploration of women's lives during adolescence, adulthood, and old age. And like Osama, Kandahar (2001) depicts life under the Taliban. In this intense film, which was named 2001's best film by Time magazine, an Afghan journalist who fled the country for Canada returns to find her suicidal sister. Of course, not every Middle Eastern film paints such a grim portrait of women's lives; Panahi's The White Balloon (1995) is a charming urban fable about a little girl's attempts to buy a goldfish in a Teheran market. In one of the more glaring omissions from the list of Academy Award nominees, Osama was not nominated for Best Foreign-Language Film. Hopefully, this powerful film will find the audience it deserves.
Dennis P. gave it an 8:
More educational than entertaining. Experiencing the cruelty of the Taliban through the eyes of a 12 year old girl is difficult at times, but undeniably powerful.
Chad S. gave it an 8:
Did the extras, and even some of the (non-)actors with speaking parts, understand that a western, or enlightened audience would look at the treatment of women under Islamic law with disdain? When Osama is pardoned from being stoned, she is forgiven, and the flock, in response praise God, and miss the irony. Did the director tell the non-professional actors they were making an anti-Islamic, as well as an anti-Taliban movie? You've seen the girl disguise herself as a boy premise in disparate films such as "Mulan" and "The King of Masks", but given the context, our focus should be on the reality of Afghani women and not recycled screenwriting. Marina Golbahari looks like Hillary Swank as Brandon Teena as a pre-teen, and is very good. "Osama" is a little short, but by the time she arrives at her husband's house, believe me, you can't wait for the film to end.
The Wise King gave it a 9:
Essential viewing. A beautiful, sad film which elegantly portrays the suffering of the Afghans under Islamic fundamentalist rule. If anyone is confused about the motives of the evil theocratic barbarians who perpetrated mass murder on our soil on September 11, let them see this film.
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