'OSAMA' FILM DEPICTS GIRL'S LIFE UNDER TALIBAN
By Ka Yan Ng

September 16, 2003 – (Reuters) Siddiq Barmak sees a brighter future for his native land of Afghanistan, but his debut feature film -- the first entirely Afghan film shot since the fall of the Taliban regime -- focuses on its dark past that he hopes will never return.

"Osama," screened last week at the Toronto International Film Festival, tells the story of a girl forced to disguise herself as a boy to escape the oppressive conditions that the Taliban, who sheltered Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network, inflicted on women.

"I think Afghan cinema has a good future," Barmak said in an interview. "I think it's a good way to introduce my country to the world. I think it's a good messenger, a good bridge between people for understanding each other."

Born in Afghanistan in 1962, Barmak lived there most of his life, and he fled to neighboring Pakistan during the last 2-1/2 years of Taliban rule. It was there that he read a newspaper story that became the basis of his script for "Osama."

Barmak returned to his native land in February 2002, not long after the Taliban was ousted by Afghan and U.S.-led forces, to head the reinstated Afghan Film Organization.

In the six months it took to shoot the film, he drew his cast of nonprofessional actors from orphanages and refugee camps. The star, Marina Golbahari, was discovered when she happened on the director to beg for money.

"She had wonderful, magic eyes," said Barmak, who instantly knew she would be his lead actress in the title role.

Golbahari's parents were hesitant at first to allow their 13-year-old daughter act in the film, but eventually gave in. The 13-member family was extremely poor, the father was sick, and was too good an opportunity to pass up.

NEED TO SUPPORT FAMILY

In the film, Golbahari's character cuts her hair and dons her father's clothes after the Taliban close down the hospital where her widowed mother works. The mother decides her daughter will now become her "son" so she can work to support the family.

If discovered, the daughter would face a Taliban trial, and possibly a death sentence, for women are allowed outside only with a male escort.

Originally, Barmak titled the film "Rainbow," a reference to a legend told by one of the characters that boys passing under a rainbow become girls, and girls change to boys.

But "Osama," the name of the disguised girl, became the title in the end, Barmak said, because "I saw that this film was about the horror and this is a reaction about the horror."

Although the title and timing of the movie's Sept. 8 screening – just before the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 -- may have raised some eyebrows, Barmak says the film was not meant as a direct reference to the attacks blamed on al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

"It's a coincidence that the film was shown very close to this date," he said.

"I think it was a good time to tell again about Afghan pain because Afghan people were the first victims of this terrorist. We are really sorry about what happened on Sept. 11 in America, but who was the victim of this terrorist for five years?"

Fewer than 40 shorts and feature films have ever been produced in Afghanistan. Barmak's film -- which he wrote, directed, edited and produced -- was backed by acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, who co-produced it.

"Osama," which won a special mention Camera d'Or award at the Cannes International Film Festival this year, will be released in the United States early in 2004.