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"It is no accident that you are reading this. I am making black marks on white paper. These marks are my thoughts, and although I do not know who you are reading this now, in some way the lines of our lives here intersected... For the length of these few sentences, we meet here.
It is no accident that you are reading this. This moment has been waiting for you, I have been waiting for you. Remember me."
-Duane Michals
Osama, a film by Siddiq Barmak
What did I expect anyway? I saw the trailer for this movie while watching a relatively good but forgettable movie, even the title of it escapes me. One scene was particularly vivid, the Taliban came to a dilapidated hospital and everyone was told to leave. The point of view was of a long outdoor hallway with empty stretchers and tall pillars on the right side, almost a qusi-temple. As the stream of burkas flow down the hallway and away from the camera, a crippled toddler who was wearing a dirt colored rag can be seen among the blue. He waddles along and one would not think much of it, as this is a hospital after all. He was among the crowd but eventually everyone out paces him. In an utterly lonely atmosphere, one realizes he is an orphan. I expected him to stop and look despairingly at the fading crowd. Perhaps I am jaded by hollywood and expected a dramatic theatrical show of despair. The little orphan continued on his way, never stopping once.
The ending was a torture. I had wish the girl reunites with her family. Considering the circumstances and placing this story into reality, would there be a happy ending? Probably not. She died without dying. How morbid is it to have to pick the style of locks that will shut ourselves in forever?
overall, I loved it. I don’t remember any criticism being shouted at the television screen. The actress is so convincing and the story flowed from one foreign corner to the next.
Okay, so what is this movie about? The dvd cover says: After the brutal Taliban regime bans women from the working and forbids them to leave their homes without a male escort, a 12 year old girl and her mother finds themselves on the brink of starvation. With no where left to turn, the mother disguises her daughter as a boy. Now called “Osama,” the young girl embarks on a terrifying and confusing journey, as she tries to keep the Taliban from discovering her true identity.
*made in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban and the winner the 2004 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.
Jesaca needed you at 10:10 PM