Word: osama
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...plot of Siddiq Barmak's Osama sounds like a twist on an old story. It's an unsentimental Yentl or--considering the eerie resemblance of Osama's Marina Golbahari to Hilary Swank--an Afghan Boys Don't Cry. In 2001 Iran produced a similar fable, Baran, set among illegal Afghan refugees in Tehran. But life has ways of imitating art. Osama, the first feature made in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power, is based on a true story. And truth shines through every frame, thanks to Barmak's storytelling skill and his young star's unaffected radiance...
...mother's reckless ruse has ominous consequences. Everyone notices that this Osama is different--"like a nymph," one man says. After landing a menial job, the girl is taken to the men-only prayer ritual, where each lad is instructed in the proper washing of the male genitals. Her deceit is discovered when she has her first menstrual period, and she is married off to an old mullah...
Heartfelt and handsomely made, Osama is the story not just of one unfortunate girl but of a nation besieged by autocratic theocracy. The film roams Kabul's streets for vignettes of the regime's depredations. When a Taliban inspector arrives at a hospital where a female doctor is treating an old man, the doctor must conceal herself by quickly donning a burqa and claiming she is the wife of her patient...
Barmak found his Osama leading lady on a Kabul street: a girl approached him, begging for money. "Her eyes," he says, "were like an explosion of light." Golbahari didn't need to reach deep for the emotions she was to show onscreen. "He asked what made me sad," she says. "I thought about my sisters, who died during the war, and I just started crying...
Some argued that Osama Bin Laden should have been 2001's Person of the Year, but I understood TIME's wish to choose an inspirational figure like New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani after the horrific attacks of 9/11. In 2003, however, one person dominated the media on an almost daily basis for an entire year, culminating with his capture fully covered by the world's press. The Person of the Year should have been Saddam Hussein. ROHIN FRANCIS London...