Grade: B | Genre: Drama Summary: I think this is an important film that needs to be seen, but it's certainly not for the light of heart. It's a tough movie to watch that doesn't offer you any hope. The only satisfaction we get once the credits roll is our knowledge that the Taliban is no longer in power.

Starring: Marina Golbahari, Arif Herati, Zubaida Sahar, Mohamad Haref Harati & Mohamad Nader Khadjeh
Director: Siddiq Barmak

Osama is a highly disturbing film. At its core, this is a scathing indictment on the Taliban regime and its detestable treatment of women. This film has the distinction of being the first to be made in post-Taliban Afghanistan. Director Siddiq Barmark's idea was sparked for this film from reading a newspaper account of a group of women struggling to survive in this repressive regime. This film is unique in that it uses no actors for these parts. This helps to establish the film's genuine feel.

The film opens to an eerie sound that resembles rusty pieces of metal violently scrapping together. A hideous sound that belongs in a Nightmare on Elm Street film sets the tone for this film perfectly. It tells the audience, prepare yourself for what you are about to see. The opening scene is of a sea of women covered from head to toe in blue burkhas protesting their inability to work in order to support themselves. Seconds later, we see the Taliban military wheel around the corner, spitting out gunfire and turning the fire hoses on this group making massive arrests. The story keys on a 12-year-old girl and her mother. Her father died fighting in the Kabul wars and her uncle died fighting in the Russian wars. There is no one to support them and they are unable to work to support themselves. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that they can't even walk on the streets without a male to accompany them. They live starving in isolation under constant fear of the Taliban.

In order to have a chance at survival, the mother cuts the girls hair to pass her off as a boy so she might work to support the family. The short hair makes her look at best androgynous as she finds work with an old friend of her father's. She has many hurdles to overcome. She doesn't know the religious rituals most boys would, her voice is much too light and she is quick to cry in stressful circumstances. Suddenly this house of cards becomes shaky when a man comes around to the shop to take her to train with the rest of the young boys to be a part of bin Laden's army. Through the course of things, a man calls our young Osama (that is the name her friend gives her) out for having girlish features that stokes the fires. The rest of the boys tease her relentlessly calling her a girl and generally hounding her as children do. She is forced to climb a tree to prove her boyhood yet gets frightened when she gets to the top and can't get down. Needless to say her cover is blown and she is arrested for her deception. What becomes of her is extremely harrowing.

I usually relish films that give us a look into other cultures, yet this one was too harsh to look at. To think that there are still parts of the world that practice death by stoning for no offense at all in the context of the rest of the world, blows my mind. Not to mention what happens to the girl in the end and the plight of all these women living in this society. It leaves you with a sick feeling in your stomach. The film's biggest drawback is that it can be fairly slow moving even for a relatively short film at hour and a half film. The first thirty minutes took forever to slug through and I don't think it accomplished much in advancing the story. I think this is an important film that needs to be seen, but it's certainly not for the light of heart. It's a tough movie to watch that doesn't offer you any hope. The only satisfaction we get once the credits roll is our knowledge that the Taliban is no longer in power.

Buy or rent Osama now.