More Movies in the Library

You are invited to come to the movies in the Library for the third in our series of four fine films!

The film, OSAMA, will be shown on TUESDAY, March 27, at 6:00 p.m., in the Library classroom, 2nd floor. Shamim Rajpar, Reference Librarian, will introduce the film and moderate a question and answer session afterwards.

Osama (2003) is not a movie about the notorious Bin Laden. Neither is it a documentary film. Rather, Osama is an Afghan feature film made in Afghanistan and starring only Afghans. The first movie produced by Afghanistan filmmakers after the fall of the Taliban, Osama is a searing portrait of life under the oppressive fundamentalist regime. Because women are not allowed to work, a widow disguises her young daughter (Marina Golbahari) as a boy so they won't starve to death. Simply walking the streets is frightening enough, but when the disguised girl is rounded up with all the boys in the town for religious training, her peril becomes absolutely harrowing. Golbahari's face--beautiful but taut with terror--is riveting. The movie captures both her plight and the miseries of daily life in spare, vivid images. At one point, her mother is nearly killed for exposing her feet while riding on the back of a bicycle; for the entire scene, the camera shows only her feet, with the spokes of the wheel radiating out behind as she lowers her burka over them. (Amazon.com -- Bret Fetzer )

The last film in this series, MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, will be shown on April 24.