osama (film)

Osama is a 2003 film made in Afghanistan. It was the first film to be shot entirely in the country since 1996, when the Taliban regime banned the creation of all films.

Production

The movie was filmed on location in Kabul, Afghanistan. Work began in June, 2002 and was completed in March 2003 on a budget of approximately $46,000 USD. The DVD includes an interview with director Siddiq Barmak as well as a featurette called "Sharing Hope and Freedom".

Cultural impact

Dually aimed to both tell a story and expose the cruelty of the Taliban, Osama was very well-received by the Western cinematic world. It gathered a rating of 96% on review site Rotten Tomatoes, which tabulates the reviews of online professionals into a single rating. Many people were stunned at the amount of violence in the film; however, it received only a PG-13 rating from the MPAA. Interestingly, all the actors in the film are all amateurs found by the director on the streets of Kabul.

Plot summary

A 12-year-old Afghan girl and her mother lose their jobs when the Taliban closes the hospital where they work. The Taliban have also forbidden women to leave their houses without a male "legal companion." With her husband and brother dead, having been killed in battle, there are no men left to support the family. Unable to leave the house without fear of arrest and torture, the mother is left with nowhere to turn. With no other choice, she disguises her daughter as a boy named 'Osama'. Osama manages to secure a job at the local chai tea shop, but 'his' effeminate ways quickly arouse suspicion among the other boys. Eventually, in a drive to collect soldiers, the local boys are taken from their homes to be trained as soldiers. At the training school, they are taught how to fight, and Osama realizes it can only be so long before she is found out. Several of the boys begin to pick on her, and eventually her secret is outed in one of the movie's most vicious and disturbing scenes. The director has said that Osama was at least partially inspired by a girl he once met, who disguised herself as a boy in order to attend school.