第28屆香港國際電影節電影
Film of the 28th Hong Kong International Film Festival

This is the first Afghan film I have ever watched. It is the first Afghan film after the fall of the Taliban regime. Surely, this film is going to be in my mind for years to come.

A young Afghan girl was forced by her grandmother to dress as a boy so that she could work. Under the Taliban rule, women were not allowed to work, or even to leave their houses without the escort of a man. They had to wear burkas whenever they were outside their homes. As her father and uncle were both killed during the wars, there were no male members in her family. Not long after she started to work, she was drafted. She had to study Koran with other boys and to learn how to use arms. Even with the help of her friend Espandi (who named her Osama), she would caught being a girl. Her life then was destined to be a tragedy...

With the story of a single girl, the director portrays to the fullest extent the tragic lives of every Afghan woman under the rule of the Taliban. In Hong Kong, nobody cares if a woman wears short sleeves and shorts. In Osama's world, showing a foot was a punishable crime. The film does more than telling the truth, but makes the audience feel pity upon all the Afghan women during that time.