Barnes & Noble

Osama is more than a moving film -- it is a historical milestone for war-torn Afghanistan, where this 2003 production was the country’s first since the Taliban outlawed filmmaking in 1996. The story puts a contemporary, intrinsically Afghan spin on the age-old story of a woman passing as a man in society. Under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, only men were allowed to work, so in order to help her widowed mother and grandmother stay afloat, a young girl (Marina Golbahari) masquerades as a boy and becomes the family breadwinner. In times of poverty, strife, and political paranoia, this is a deeply courageous masquerade, and a boy whom the girl confides in (Mohamad Aref Harat) begins calling her Osama, a name that means "lion" in Arabic. With its gripping scenario and natural ease, this would be a praiseworthy film for any writer-director. But the fact that it’s Siddiq Barmak's debut bodes especially well for his future. The film is exquisitely rendered, moving yet not manipulative, arty but not alienating. In a time when Iranian movies have defined South Asian cinema in the art house, Barmak has raised the bar, paving the way for a new generation of Afghan filmmakers. Tony Nigro

All Movie Guide

Writer/director Siddiq Barmak makes his film debut with Osama, the first all-Afghan feature released since the end of the Taliban rule. In the early days of the regime, a young girl (Marina Golbahari) and her widowed mother (Zobeydeh Sahar) participate in a demonstration for women's right to work. When the demonstration is broken up by the Taliban, they hide out with local street kid Espandi (Mohamad Aref Harat). When the Taliban take over a hospital where the mother secretly works, they are arrested and jailed. In order to go to work, the mother dresses the young girl as a boy. Forced to attend school, the girl reunites with Espandi, who refers to her as Osama. She struggles to maintain her disguise in order to survive. Osama won an honorable mention at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. Andrea LeVasseur

Entertainment Weekly

The movie is a rare uncensored postcard from a ruined place, a document at once depressing and hideously beautiful that sketches the real hardships of trampled people -- specifically women -- with authority and compelling simplicity. Lisa Schwarzbaum

New York Times

Osama's unvarnished vulnerability, along with the director's combination of tough-mindedness and lyricism, prevents the movie from becoming at all sentimental; instead, it is beautiful, thoughtful and almost unbearably sad. A.O. Scott

Product Details

• UPC: 883904127086
• Source: MGM (VIDEO & DVD)
• Time: 1:22:00
• Sales Rank: 15,163