For the years the Taliban had a grip over the people of Afghanistan, for the years they ruled and reigned until it took a Western task force, predominantly in the shape of the Americans, to overthrow them following the aftermath of September the eleventh, 2001 - cinema was banned and so was the notion of film-making. It would be very easy to label the ruling group, that were the Taliban, cruel. But it would actually be easier to label them rather stupid in the sense they had this tool, that was cinema and film-making, and chose to shun it. Many dictators from many-a nation have used cinema throughout history, from Hitler to Stalin to Fransisco Franco in Spain half way through last century - Franco even set up an 'Of National Interest' tag for Spanish films that made his government and political ideas look good, and have used it to their advantage. The fact they had this tool, however primitive it may have been, and rejected its power and possibilities for political manipulation and falsifying glorification is incredible.
Here is the reaction to the overthrow: a film named 'Osama'. One that actually looks at life under the Taliban and documents it as accurately as we can only assume; from its rules and regulations to do with women, to its glimpses inside a Taliban training camp. What the Taliban shunned for those half a dozen years or so, refusing to use as a means of propaganda to promote their image comes back and bites them in 80 minutes of sheer documentation of their own rule. This is the payback, you might say. If I am brutally honest, I wanted to like Osama a lot more than I did but that is not to say I wouldn't recommend it. The film is exactly that: a documentation of what went on in a certain nation, at a certain time. The film does not shock as much as it does educate, which is still perfectly fine; the film does not demonise as much as it does document, which is equally fine but the film does not engage us with a greater variety of individuals as much as it does with one little girl, forced into cross-dressing to save her and her mother's life.
Don't get me wrong, I liked Osama but when the 'evils' and wrong-doing the Taliban incurred on the people of Afghanistan have to be put across orally, through a series of wails and sobs of times gone by, you sort of feel a pinch linked to wanting to see a dramatisation of these events and a chance to really get a feel for what these people went through. I think Afghanistan, with the still relatively immediate post-Taliban set-up they've got, have a stunning film inside of them somewhere. With the now supposedly reformed nation that is Afghanistan, I can see their troubles under the Taliban told amongst a horrific, truly unnerving, sprawling canvas of cinema that incorporates the visual style plus disturbance of something like Children of Men combined with the heart-tugging substance of something like Hotel Rwanda or 2006 Malian film 'Bamako', both films that never exploited true-to-life events, but instead got across a sense of feeling, hurt and desperation as scenarios built to a hilt that would shape the lives of a group of everyday people.
Instead, and to the film's credit after all, we have the wandering, searching approach given to us – the unconnected and random structure that sees its protagonist wander through their surroundings, slightly lost and without direction as they are thrust into a situation (forced to dress as a man) on top of an already desperate situation (life under the regime). The film is a collection of events strung together more than it is a story of actually living under the rule and despite starting out with the idea that this woman must rely on her young girl dressed a boy to bring home earnings to live, the film abandons this premise and relies on the girl venturing forth and getting into situations that will endanger her due to her secret.
You cannot deny the spirit or sense of the Taliban remains. This is Afghanistan's first film shot entirely in their nation post-regime and it just so happens to share its name with that of the regime's former (or still current?) leader: Osama. Marina Golbahari plays the titular character of Osama and does more acting in this 83 minutes than some supporting talents might do in entire trilogies of blockbusters. She is sent out to work at a tea shop because there are no other men in her mother's life and a woman cannot legally leave her place of dwelling without a male escorting her. This set up is abandoned when many boys are snatched up from homes and workplaces in order to be trained by the Taliban for combat.
Granted, within the passage of bits and pieces the film has its fair share of dramatic moments that make for great drama. There is an incident within an all-male wash room that is obviously going to be a little awkward as well as a scene in which once in the camp, many of the other boys point out the young girl, randomly assigned the name Osama I might add, for teasing and unwanted attention. What I wanted out of Osama was a more-visceral, more terrifying account of life under Taliban rule. What I got was a documentation of the nation's prior difficulties; forever embedded within the film from the opening shot that clearly echoes a documentary as a camera-man is attacked. For what it is, Osama is engaging and affecting in places, but do not be surprised if an Afghan filmmaker fabricates something more affecting and more brilliant in the future.
Here is the reaction to the overthrow: a film named 'Osama'. One that actually looks at life under the Taliban and documents it as accurately as we can only assume; from its rules and regulations to do with women, to its glimpses inside a Taliban training camp. What the Taliban shunned for those half a dozen years or so, refusing to use as a means of propaganda to promote their image comes back and bites them in 80 minutes of sheer documentation of their own rule. This is the payback, you might say. If I am brutally honest, I wanted to like Osama a lot more than I did but that is not to say I wouldn't recommend it. The film is exactly that: a documentation of what went on in a certain nation, at a certain time. The film does not shock as much as it does educate, which is still perfectly fine; the film does not demonise as much as it does document, which is equally fine but the film does not engage us with a greater variety of individuals as much as it does with one little girl, forced into cross-dressing to save her and her mother's life.
Don't get me wrong, I liked Osama but when the 'evils' and wrong-doing the Taliban incurred on the people of Afghanistan have to be put across orally, through a series of wails and sobs of times gone by, you sort of feel a pinch linked to wanting to see a dramatisation of these events and a chance to really get a feel for what these people went through. I think Afghanistan, with the still relatively immediate post-Taliban set-up they've got, have a stunning film inside of them somewhere. With the now supposedly reformed nation that is Afghanistan, I can see their troubles under the Taliban told amongst a horrific, truly unnerving, sprawling canvas of cinema that incorporates the visual style plus disturbance of something like Children of Men combined with the heart-tugging substance of something like Hotel Rwanda or 2006 Malian film 'Bamako', both films that never exploited true-to-life events, but instead got across a sense of feeling, hurt and desperation as scenarios built to a hilt that would shape the lives of a group of everyday people.
Instead, and to the film's credit after all, we have the wandering, searching approach given to us – the unconnected and random structure that sees its protagonist wander through their surroundings, slightly lost and without direction as they are thrust into a situation (forced to dress as a man) on top of an already desperate situation (life under the regime). The film is a collection of events strung together more than it is a story of actually living under the rule and despite starting out with the idea that this woman must rely on her young girl dressed a boy to bring home earnings to live, the film abandons this premise and relies on the girl venturing forth and getting into situations that will endanger her due to her secret.
You cannot deny the spirit or sense of the Taliban remains. This is Afghanistan's first film shot entirely in their nation post-regime and it just so happens to share its name with that of the regime's former (or still current?) leader: Osama. Marina Golbahari plays the titular character of Osama and does more acting in this 83 minutes than some supporting talents might do in entire trilogies of blockbusters. She is sent out to work at a tea shop because there are no other men in her mother's life and a woman cannot legally leave her place of dwelling without a male escorting her. This set up is abandoned when many boys are snatched up from homes and workplaces in order to be trained by the Taliban for combat.
Granted, within the passage of bits and pieces the film has its fair share of dramatic moments that make for great drama. There is an incident within an all-male wash room that is obviously going to be a little awkward as well as a scene in which once in the camp, many of the other boys point out the young girl, randomly assigned the name Osama I might add, for teasing and unwanted attention. What I wanted out of Osama was a more-visceral, more terrifying account of life under Taliban rule. What I got was a documentation of the nation's prior difficulties; forever embedded within the film from the opening shot that clearly echoes a documentary as a camera-man is attacked. For what it is, Osama is engaging and affecting in places, but do not be surprised if an Afghan filmmaker fabricates something more affecting and more brilliant in the future.