2008 Woodie Awards
the reel critic
Josh Wessler
Issue date: 10/10/07 Section: Arts
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MOVIE |Osama
DIRECTOR | Siddiq Barmak
STARRING | Marina Golbahari
"Osama" is set in a country sandwiched between oppressive rule and civil and international war. Though the film bears the title of the lead character, a nameless girl forced by circumstance to acquire a man's name, the story is freed from the constraint of a single narrator. At various times, we view the story through the lens of a European cameraman, the searing eyes of a young Afghani boy or through the opaqueness of a veil. This narrative freedom suggests an unhinging of the Taliban's suffocating hold on the country. They may succeed in silencing a dissenting voice, but another will surely rise.
The story shuttles between a male-dominated public life and a feminine sphere until the distinction between the two shatters against the will of the Taliban. For all the rigidity of Afghan law, Osama (Marina Golbahari), by dressing as a boy in order to secure food for her fatherless family, manages to penetrate the Taliban's propaganda machine. As a young male, she is conscripted into a training camp sponsored by Osama Bin Laden (whom we never see). In a world where fervor and militarism are often demanded of young men, Osama's seeming femininity shocks the Taliban leadership, ignorant of her gender swapping. Ultimately, her peers raise the red flags and her lone ally is unable to hide her identity.
In another setting, perhaps Osama's audacity would have resulted in gentle chiding. In this city, however, where men fill a town square to watch public capital punishment, Osama is to be tried as a high criminal. In this judicial system, the word freedom or innocence is barely mentioned - instead, the options lie between death and slavery. A man can liberate a woman from death and bring her into his home as a wife, though the latter may be more of a prison than the former.
As Osama explores the contradictions of the men's world, she also explores the female domain. The film begins with a massive demonstration by the town's veiled women - they demand food, not revolutionary change. Still, the Taliban arrive in force and disrupt the march, attacking the women and young girls with high-pressure hoses. The burqa is often portrayed as a frightening symbol of female oppression, or, occasionally, as female militarism. Yet, in "Osama," the burqa can protect women from the oppressive eye of the Taliban. In an early scene, the Taliban raid a hospital looking for foreign women. Osama's mother, caring for an asthmatic man, hides herself and Osama under her veil. When Osama peers out to see if the men have left, she sees the Taliban arrest a French nurse who would not wear a veil.
DIRECTOR | Siddiq Barmak
STARRING | Marina Golbahari
"Osama" is set in a country sandwiched between oppressive rule and civil and international war. Though the film bears the title of the lead character, a nameless girl forced by circumstance to acquire a man's name, the story is freed from the constraint of a single narrator. At various times, we view the story through the lens of a European cameraman, the searing eyes of a young Afghani boy or through the opaqueness of a veil. This narrative freedom suggests an unhinging of the Taliban's suffocating hold on the country. They may succeed in silencing a dissenting voice, but another will surely rise.
The story shuttles between a male-dominated public life and a feminine sphere until the distinction between the two shatters against the will of the Taliban. For all the rigidity of Afghan law, Osama (Marina Golbahari), by dressing as a boy in order to secure food for her fatherless family, manages to penetrate the Taliban's propaganda machine. As a young male, she is conscripted into a training camp sponsored by Osama Bin Laden (whom we never see). In a world where fervor and militarism are often demanded of young men, Osama's seeming femininity shocks the Taliban leadership, ignorant of her gender swapping. Ultimately, her peers raise the red flags and her lone ally is unable to hide her identity.
In another setting, perhaps Osama's audacity would have resulted in gentle chiding. In this city, however, where men fill a town square to watch public capital punishment, Osama is to be tried as a high criminal. In this judicial system, the word freedom or innocence is barely mentioned - instead, the options lie between death and slavery. A man can liberate a woman from death and bring her into his home as a wife, though the latter may be more of a prison than the former.
As Osama explores the contradictions of the men's world, she also explores the female domain. The film begins with a massive demonstration by the town's veiled women - they demand food, not revolutionary change. Still, the Taliban arrive in force and disrupt the march, attacking the women and young girls with high-pressure hoses. The burqa is often portrayed as a frightening symbol of female oppression, or, occasionally, as female militarism. Yet, in "Osama," the burqa can protect women from the oppressive eye of the Taliban. In an early scene, the Taliban raid a hospital looking for foreign women. Osama's mother, caring for an asthmatic man, hides herself and Osama under her veil. When Osama peers out to see if the men have left, she sees the Taliban arrest a French nurse who would not wear a veil.
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