Osama: Marina Golbahari, Mohamad Nader Khadjeh, Zubaida Sahar, Arif Herati, Mohamad Haref Harati, Gol Rahman Ghorbandi, Khwaja Nader, Hamida Refah, Ebrahim Ghafori, Siddiq Barmak, Julia Fraser, Julie LeBrocquy, Makoto Ueda, Mohsen Makhmalbaf: Amazon.ca: Video

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Customer Reviews

27 Reviews

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

Average Customer Review

4.1 out of 5 stars (27 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Terrifying look at women under the Taliban, and one young girl's response, Oct 16 2011

By

K. Gordon - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Osama (DVD)

Fascinating look at the insane plight of women under the Taliban

They are not allowed to work, go out alone, even to laugh is dangerous.

The film is the story of one 12 year old girl who masquerades as a boy,
and gets to briefly experience what free(r) life could be like ' at the
risk of her life.

I wanted to flat out love the film, but some amateurish central
performances, and a few self- conscious miss-steps in the direction
kept me at more of an emotional distance than I wanted to be,

None-the-less, a powerful, politically important film I'd be willing to
re-visit.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, July 19 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Osama (DVD)

Watch this movie if you would like to see a realistic portrayal of Afghanistan during the Taliban regime. This movie might be kind of slow moving for some people, I thought the pace was fine.

This movie effectively shows Afghanistan under the Taliban regime and the atrocities they commited on Afghans. The cinematography is wonderful. The sad thing is that there are still millions of people in the world who live in conditions just as bad and nothing is done to help them.

If you are not interested in Afghanistan or the Taliban regime, then don't bother watching this movie. If you would like to learn about Afganistan, then you should watch this movie.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful people under a shocking regime, July 16 2004

By

E. Karasik (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Osama (DVD)

Even though the brutal nature of Taliban rule in Afghanistan has been well publicized, it was still horribly shocking to see the cruel and bizarre punishments inflicted on citizens for conduct which we would not even characterize as offensive, much less criminal. The heartlessness of these sentences is resonant of the beheadings occurring in Iraq, and yet when seen in this film, they at least have some cultural context. One is forced to ask oneself why the public stoning of a female journalist seems so much more violent than other types of execution. Perhaps it is because the victim realizes that she is at the mercy of a willing and vengeful public who enthusiastically inflict the fatal wounds. Perhaps it is simply the primal image of humans hurling stones at a helpless woman buried up to her neck. But, while I would never apologize for these acts, I am tempted to wonder whether we, in the West, are perhaps guilty of sanitizing killings and executions so that they ultimately becomes more palatable. Violence aside, what moved me most about this film was the loving attention to the beauty of Afghanistan and its people. The filmmaker (if I understood his interview in the special features correctly) used non-actors to depict this story of a young girl approaching puberty, with superb results. (I am reminded of another excellent film, called "Rabbit Proof Fence," about the oppression of Australian Aboriginal people by the English, which also uses non-actor children.) The camera makes the most of the protagonist's exquisite androgynous face and expressive eyes. The film's tendency to be slow-paced, which left me a bit distracted at the beginning, is actually a strength, as small details like a puppy in the street or a dry, dusty roadway become a real-time meditation on the texture of everyday life for a magnificent people who, one can only hope, will someday achieve an open and egalitarian society.

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Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, but dull
While watching "Osama" I kept trying to tell myself that the culture differences and the director's choice of style were the reason I was not enjoying the movie. Read more

Published on July 4 2004 by Hadassa

5.0 out of 5 stars Part of Why America Was Correct to Throw Out the Talibans
The film is about the plight of women in Afghanistan during the Talibans. Osama is the name taken up by a young Afghan girl, who is forced to pretend she is a boy in order to... Read more

Published on July 3 2004 by J. DeMeo