I have recently watched a film which is impossible to get out of my mind. The title of this film is Osama. It is an Afghan film, the first film made in that country since the fall of the Taliban.
Inspired by a true story, the film is set during the brutal regime of the Taliban. The main character is a twelve-year old girl who is disguised as a boy and named Osama. Under Taliban rule, women are severely oppressed. They are not allowed to appear in public unaccompanied by a male relative. Osama’s mother is a widow whose husband died in the Afghan war against the Russians. Although she is a doctor, she, her mother and daughter live in abject poverty. In desperation, the widow and her mother decide to cut short the young girl’s hair and disguise her as a boy, dressing her in her dead father’s clothes. Osama has to go out and work to keep the family alive.
First her mother takes her to a man who had been in the army with her father. She persuades him to give Osama work in his tiny shop. He himself is very poor. Although he tries to protect Osama, she is taken away one day by a Taliban officer who has been rounding up young boys to be trained in a religious military school. From this point of the drama, suspense is built up, as Osama is thrown into one dangerous situation after another. In the school, a beggar boy befriends her and tries his best to prevent others from seeing through her disguise. In spite of his efforts, many of the other boys become suspicious and begin to taunt her mercilessly. Things come to a head when she climbs up a tree to prove that she is a boy. She is overcome with fear and cannot climb back down. For this act, she is punished cruelly by the teacher. Her body is strapped up and hung down a deep well. Terrified, Osama cries for her mother to come and rescue her. No one helps her. Moreover, physical evidence exposes her to be a girl.
Osama is put in prison to await her sentence. She is pardoned by the judge but given in marriage to a very old teacher. He already has other wives whom he keeps as prisoners in his house. Ultimately, there is no escape for Osama. Her nightmare continues.
This film is superbly played out by amateur actors who portray the characters very realistically. I applaud them and the director for making this film a most memorable cinematic experience.
impossible not possible
abject acute
ultimately in the end