Marina
Golbahari , Khwaja Nader , Mohamad Aref Harat, Hamida Refah, Gol
Rahman Ghorbandi
Writer/director Siddiq Barmak makes his film debut with Osama, the
first all-Afghan feature released since the end of the Taliban rule.
In the early days of the regime, a young girl (Marina Golbahari)
and her widowed mother (Zobeydeh Sahar) participate in a demonstration
for women's right to work. When the demonstration is broken up by
the Taliban, they hide out with local street kid Espandi (Mohamad
Aref Harat). When the Taliban take over a hospital where the mother
secretly works, they are arrested and jailed. In order to go to
work, the mother dresses the young girl as a boy. Forced to attend
school, the girl reunites with Espandi, who refers to her as Osama.
She struggles to maintain her disguise in order to survive.
Osama won an honorable
mention at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. |