MovieChat Forums > Osama (2003) Discussion > Significant metaphors in 'Osama' (spoile...

Significant metaphors in 'Osama' (spoilers)


there are a lot of metaphorical shots, one of the famous being osama skipping rope (see the thread down below!)

but then there's also:
1- in the beginning, when osama is with her mother at the hospital and treating an old man for his fatal condition... there's a corridor shot where everyone is leaving the hospital, and a disabled child lags behind. you would think he would get lost in the crowd but he doesn't and he lags behind, walking through an empty desolate corridor. and you can hear the distant echoes of his footsteps. i'm not sure why, but this scene really shook something inside of me. but i wonder if it meant anything?
2- another shot of osama after she has cut her hair, and the old man has died. osama and her mother carry the IV fluid carrier back home, and while osama is sleeping you can see the fluid drip into the pot which has remnants of her cut hair.

are there any others any one can think of?
i also thought that some of the scenes (like when osama's mother is on the bike with the man who decides to escort them back home - and the taleban stops them. you don't really see them. but you can see her feet. it's a chilling effect. because you can't see any faces.) were very powerful and/or moving because of how they were shot.

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How about the women shoved into the chicken coop after the protest at the beginning, and at the end, there are chickens running around where the wives are confined.

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The way he held that wide shot down the corridor, after the others had left frame, until the crippled boy rounded the corner and out of frame was great. uncomfortably long, willing the boy on to catch up. The sound went from a fleeing crowd to the solitude of his footsteps. every man for himself? He didn't miss a step, so a will to survive? The close up of the feet on the bike when the taleban were talking to them was what they could see of her. that we only heard them. the disjointed interaction due to womens status and dress? The grandmother was superstistuous, the hair might have been to ward off ghinn? I agree, really powerfully directed and shot.

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i think there's not a meaning for the boy walking through an empty corridor.
this scene was only to show the bigger consequence of Taleban: parents became something rare in Afeghanistan. alone boy, orphan, with some kind of desease, looking for help... a comum scene in Afghanistan.



and, about the grandmother being supertistuous it's afghan culture.
tales, histories, myths, this things makes afghan culture very interesting.

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i think the iv on the hair was just a metaphor for osama trying to maintain her femininity and to a lesser extent childhood/innocence, which were both quickly dying away as she embarked on the path that she had...

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The movie is very well filmed, I wish I could say the same for the audio.

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the first time i saw this film, i was so afraid for the boy. i thought for sure he was going to die, because the taliban frowned so much upon weakness.

sad.

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[deleted]

Yes.A nd it comes at the very end of the film when the mullah immerses himself in the heated vat of water(presumably after defiling his young "bride")and the overflow douses the flames beneath the vat(extinguishing the fire that is the young girls spirit)
Just saw this today. Great film. As far away from the happy Hollywood ending as you can get.

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