Teardrops - Massive Attack

OSAMA


*please excuse this writeup if it sounds like late night, post supper rambling. it is. and the fact that i really am not eloquent in reviewing films. may contain spoilers*

**actually, its not so much of a review. more like what went on in my head after watching it. post analysis you might say**

Since that every tom, chong, murugan & minah in the blogging world seems to be talking about the movie Closer , I thought I'll write about a different kind of movie. Whereas Closer brings complex modern relationships issues close to home, Osama, brings us to a totally different world of relationships, one that is more often not, brutal to its very core and physically and mentally torturous.

there is little or no soundtrack at all. the colors are muted, the cinematography stark, the plot execution blunt. heck, even the dialogue is sparse.There is no happy ending , not even a glimpse of hope and to some it may seem a tad too depressing. The lack of soundtrack forces us to focus our attention to the characters. Osama, played brilliantly by young Marina Golbahari ( considering she was working as a beggar before making this film, how's that for your acting portfolio??), is the central character who is somewhat forced againts her will by her mother and grandmother to disguise as a boy so that she(he?) can help the family by getting a job.

The first 10 minutes sets the tone of the story. Women in burqas marching the desolate streets of Kabul , demanding for equal rights. That is , before the Taliban gunmen come marching in their path and what follows is a harrowing account, a glimpse of what life was for women who dared to raise their voices in the Taliban regime. It is seriously fucked up and will probably add fuel to fire for the many Anti-Islam critics out there. But I dont blame them, not especially when you have the Taliban regime who seem bent on upholding God's laws under their own terms, their own interpretations.

Afghanistan is no longer headline news material these days. Any news avaialble are usually relegated to a small column, probably on Page 20 or so. America came, drove away the Taliban and left. Re-building of the society, only recently freed from a terror regime which had an iron grip, was slow, almost non existence. You might have seen cheerful news, shortly after the US troops were there, that would have mention that "the streets of Kabul are back to normal! Movies are being shown again, radios are playing music....". The reality is that, that's all there is to it. There is so much more at stake,mindsets , brainwashed from the Taliban era, needs to be changed because on a whole, women are still subject to certain elements of oppression ( there was an article about birth defects, common amongts Afghan children, due to internal marriages*). There is so much more to be done. and many people have forgotten about them.

Osama in the movie may not have much hope during the Taliban era. But Marina definitely has some future. She may or may not be acting anytime soon, but director Siddiq Barmak has given her an option, a choice , that there is something better out there for her people. And her story needs to be told.

Ok. ill stop rambling now. just go see this movie.

* i dont knowlah what the term is...marrying amongst close relatives...cousins, distance cousins etc2...