Afrin

A lovely fairy tale made into a fun and enjoyable musical movie, I grew up watching this movie and loved it enough as a child to watch it over and over again. The songs are still fresh in my memory. Great cast, good acting, with nice characters make the plot engaging - not forgetting the fun songs. Recently saw the movie again and enjoyed it even 20 years later. Seeing it as a grown up was different, but my opinion about it doesn't change. Two princesses, one young and innocent and the older bitter sister, vying to be selected as the true princess of the kingdom, a magic ball, a funny king, and frog who dances and sings, a delightful movie for the whole family.

My dad got me a VHS, (in the old days) of this movie, and i still cant get over it. The songs haunt me, the memory of the dances still make me smile, although i'm hunting fervently for the DVD, the old VHS was lost a while back.

This movie is such a brilliant adaptation, because it adds so much more to the story. It is a musical to the core, with a song every two minutes and certainly these are the songs one often hears in school singing competitions.

The choreography is enchanting, the performances gripping, especially of the young boys, Oliver and Dodge are amazing.

This movie should be seen by children because it will enchant them and they will certainly enjoy it all through their lives.

hi,

This was my first experience of an Afghani Film, and even though my family is not too keen about the movies i watch, they all gathered and watched this, at various points expressing shock and emotion at what they saw.

The narrative of the film seems hesitant, delicate, unsure in its motion, but yet it has a very natural appeal and is definitely rich in meaning, and beautifully layered.

The DVD i saw also had a featurette with an interview with Siddiq Barmak, the director, editor and writer for the film. His gentle and sincere stories about the movie give a deep insight into what the condition of people in that country is.

I hate watching news, and these days no amount of disasters, riots or war stories affect me, because I simple don't feel like watching them anymore. Films like Osama, tell you true stories and that to me is the magic of the incredible medium called CINEMA.

Siddiq Barmak mentions, in the intervew, Afghani people love to dance, sing and have a great attraction to watch movies... and of course, for a very long time, the had no access to cinema, sometimes a glimpse of some Russian movies maybe. He said the second day after the fall of the Taliban, they reopened a theater... and the people saw a Hindi movie, with dance and singing... and everyone in the theater danced and sang for the pleasure of it. I guess that moment is what cinema stands for.

I hope to see a lot more from this now young nation of potential film makers... the actors in Osama are all off the streets. And the main character, Marina, well, she'd never even seen a television ever before.

A peephole, in the least, OSAMA is a refreshing and touching film to watch... colourful, well framed and brutally honest.