Osama: Bold and Sensitive review

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Osama aptly depicts how religious fundamentalism and military aggression are two sides of patriarchy that aim to seek control and gain power over women, writes Kay

Directed by Siddiq Barmak Osama is a film that raises your goose bums and leaves your spine chilling with horror. And before you assume that this film is about Osama Bin Laden I will clear your doubts. This film is not about Bin Laden but the gender apartheid and sexual terrorism of the Taliban in Afganistan. When Taliban came back to power they unleashed a reign of terror whose first victims were women. They closed down girls' schools, dismissed women from government jobs and enforced Shariat laws.
 
Osama is the story of a family run by women who are forced to disguise their young daughter as boy in order to earn a living. As the young girl buries her piggy tale in a flowerpot and dons a new identity one knows that her life is going to change forever.
 
Reluctantly Osama as her friends call her is initiated into a man's world and soon finds it difficult to cope with the physical and mental violence she is subjected to. However, this catches the eye of her lusty old teacher who later finds out that Osama is a girl. Once she is exposed she is ostracized from the society and jailed along with women rebels and a female foreign journalist who is stoned to death by the men.

But the sadness and sorrow increases as Osama is sold to the old teacher in the name of marriage by Talibs. She becomes a part of an old mansion, which is full of women married to the same oldie and is sexually exploited every day since then.
 
What I like about the film is the bold yet sensitive way in which it raises the issue of women suffering from a potential backlash from politico-religious movements. The film aptly depicts how religious fundamentalism and military aggression are two sides of patriarchy that looks at women as property and seeks to control and gain power over her body.
 
All the characters of the film whether the oppressor or the oppressed leave an indelible impression on the mind. And it will not be an exaggeration to say that these characters will haunt you more than the ghost of a brilliant Hollywood horror flick.
 
This compelling story is a must watch for everyone because it makes you come out of your comfort zone and think about the little Osama and many like her who are still being oppressed in various parts of the world in the name of religion.
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