neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Osama
	Siddiq Barmak Marina Golbarhari, Arif Herati, Zubaida Sahar, Khwaja Nader, Hamida Refah, Gol Rahman Ghorbandi 2003		Powerful and powerfully disturbing, "Osama" is the first film to be produced in Afghanistan since the fall of the totalitarian government controlled by the Taliban — a political organization based on radical fundamentalist Muslim precepts. And it makes for a haunting experience. If ever there's a need or desire to see why the Taliban's nightmarish reign of terror needed to end, there is "Osama." The title may be misleading in lieu of current events; writer/director/editor Siddiq Barmak's drama is not about the reviled leader of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group. Rather, it takes the measure of a young girl (sad-eyed urchin Marina Golbarhari) who is encouraged by her mother (Zubaida Sahar) to masquerade as a boy in order to find work in the face of the misogynistic Taliban oppressors. In a land where women are second-class citizens and are virtually imprisoned in their homes, this is the only way that mother, an unemployed medical professional, and daughter can feed their impoverished family. But things go from terrible to even worse. Herded into an indoctrination camp for boys by deceived soldiers in the local militia, the girl takes the name Osama when the other children and her instructors confront her. The tragedy intensifies for imperiled Osama, reflecting a burden borne by every oppressed female in the Muslim world.