Director:
Siddiq Barmak
Starring:
Marina Golbahari
Arif Herati
Zubaida Sahar
Release: 6 Feb. 04
IMDb
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Osama
BY: DAVID PERRY
So, if I may be so bold as to ask, is there an Iranian or
Afghan film genre that doesn’t obsess over the treatment of women. It’s like
all the activists make films to speak their concerns to each other but never
take the time to make sure anyone else cares. By the time Osama, a noble if
insignificant entrant in this film movement, comes to a close, one can only
imagine the greater good that might have been done had the filmmakers
instead used their efforts to extol their fellow countrymen of the
mistreatment of women. Film going, I’m assuming, isn’t quite the same in
Tehran as it is in Mumbai, India.
Yes, there is a side to this that the Westerners are the real audience, our
riches waiting to be appropriated to them in hopes of changing the area’s
social mores. But Osama, like the rest of the pack, doesn’t pull of the
complete fight for U.S., U.N., NATO, E.U., or any other abbreviated
government or non-governmental body aid. What’s portrayed, for must of us,
at least, is a maudlin story of a girl trying to survive in Afghanistan
after being dressed a little boy for better potential in life. Though
compelling at times, this is mighty boring storytelling for a well meaning
purpose. Its claim to fame, evidently, is its willingness to utter the name
of Public Enemy No. 1 in its title, but unlike most segments in 11’09”01 --
September 11, the impression isn’t that we should remember that the problems
of life, from illness to poverty to terrorism, are existent everywhere.
Osama takes a more counterintuitive approach: feel bad for us, we’re worse
off than you. No matter how true this might be, who wants to think their
daily dramas are pitifully minor in the overall scheme of things?
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