OSAMA (Siddiq Barmak, 2003)

Siddiq Barmak’s Osama is a movie that has obvious self-reflexive qualities. Throughout the film, Barmak uses self-reflexivity to make the audience aware of the film’s structure. Many times the continuity or other elements of film structure are violated in order to jar the audience and make them realize something new about the film. By observing a couple of examples, it is easy to see how this movie could be classified as self-reflexive.

In the beginning of Osama, a boy seems to be leading the viewers around the city. Barmak does not provide any information prior to this, and leaves us unsure of what is happening. Also, we are jarred by the camera movements, which are very jerky--most likely caused by the use of a hand-held video camera. The first major point of self-reflexivity comes when the cameraman reaches on camera to pay the young boy. This is totally bizarre at first, but soon we realize that it clears up some earlier confusion as to why the camera was so jerky and why it seemed the boy was speaking to the audience. Typically, the camera would only serve as the eyes of the viewer and never make the audience aware that there is someone controlling where we look on screen. That is what makes this self-reflexive.

A second use of self-reflexivity comes when the young girl is getting her hair cut to look like a boy and she has flashbacks to when she saw the Taliban spray people with water as she watched from behind a door. This is done through a series of jump cuts. Not only does this physically break the continuity of the film through jarring jump cuts, but also through the discontinuity of progression in film, as it spontaneously cuts to a scene from earlier in the film and replays a portion of it. It can be seen as self-reflexive because it purposefully breaks continuity to recount past events and reveal something more to the audience.

The final self-reflexive element can be observed when the cameraman is completely shown on film. This catches the audience off guard because now the man who would most likely be filming the scene is standing right in front of us. Also, the man who shoots the film has shifted roles by becoming an actor within the film. This brief moment makes the audience come to the realization that the cameraman from the beginning was shooting a home movie within a movie. All of this confusion can be seen as self-reflexive because it makes the audience discover something for themselves instead of telling the audience everything. The film never said “this is the cameraman from the beginning,” but Barmak assumes the viewers can come to such a conclusion themselves. All of these elements can be argued as evidence to this films self-reflexive quality.

The intent of Osama is certainly not one of entertainment; the subject matter of the film does not lend itself to mainstream thrill rides. It is obvious that the topic is extremely serious, and especially somber, if not horrific.

Osama is certainly filled with self reflexive elements and for good reason. In order to communicate the director’s vision and the plight of the characters accurately, it is necessary to stray from concrete classical realism. The self reflexivity helps the audience to gain a greater empathy and understanding of the character’s emotions that would otherwise be impossible.

It seems that the self reflexive points are split in the film; polarized to both the beginning and end. The film begins as a view through a photo-journalist’s camera. A young boy speaks directly to the camera and seems to be relating to us, as this serves as a welcome look into the world of Afghanistan--one that acclimatizes the viewer to this certain reality. After the first act, the self reflexivity subsides to a minimum as we experience Osama’s world in a bleak and realistic way. I believe the director’s intent is to force us to endure this harsh reality without escape into any formalist elements.

The third act brings the self reflexivity to a heightened state again as Osama’s world starts to fall apart and she is realizing her life is over. The most poignant image in the film shows Osama, in a way, watching herself skip rope behind bars of steel. This is obviously not realistic. We realize she is just a small girl and the depth of horror and outrage of the situation becomes almost incapacitatingly clear. The director makes use of jump cuts and hand held camera work as well as slow motion. The ending becomes a situation that seems almost worst than death, and remains slightly ambiguous.

In this film, self reflexivity allows the director to show the audience things that cannot be shown in a classical way, elevating us to a place amongst emotion and dreams and humanity; it allows us to go beyond a mere viewing into an actual experience.

What makes Siddiq Barmak’s Osama amazing is its ability to call attention to itself as a movie throughout its duration even though the subject matter is very serious. It uses self-reference, camera angle, and sound to achieve this.

The movie begins self-reflexively, filmed on a Handicam with jerky movements. Espandi speaks directly to the screen, saying, “Don’t film me, film the women,” reminding viewers that all is seen through a camera first.

Whenever a Taliban officer enters a scene before Osama cuts her hair, the camera completely omits the Taliban characters, jarring the viewer because they cannot see the Taliban, just as the characters cannot. Shaken out of its all-seeing privilege, the audience is thus reminded that it is watching a movie. This tactic is also used when any character is naked in the film, hiding the most shocking yet desirable details from the viewer, causing them to realize yet again that a camera (in control of what is captured) veils such minutiae.

Another formal element used for self-reflexivity is sound. When Osama climbs the tree while the crowd below her is shouting, the camera cuts to her alone and all verbal clamors dissipates, emphasizing that she hears nothing except herself because of her own sympathetic nervous system. Viewers are jarred when the yelling suddenly silences. Later in the movie, a girl jumps rope in the prison, which alone is enough of a non-sequitur, but the sound of the jump rope is completely out of sync with the picture. As the viewers attempt to grasp the discrepancy between the two senses, they recognize again that the reality of the film is that it is indeed a movie.

Most significantly, viewers experience the death of an English documentarist when he is killed for filming the scene with which the movie opened. That it is the same film the viewers have seen, and that the Englishman’s actual death is not witnessed, but only heard, further and undeniably demonstrates self-reflexivity in Osama.

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Last update: 8/27/2004