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Reviews
Rosenstrasse (2003)
Could be better but still makes a strong point.
Most of the critics raved about this film from a cinematographic point of view, but missed its major message.
The viewing public thought the story line thin and contrived, the characters shallow and undeveloped, but they also missed the major message. The film is a first time public presentation of how a handful of unorganised Aryan women in 1943 held a spontaneous week long vigil outside the Jewish Community Center in Rosenstrasse, in the heart of Berlin, where their Jewish husbands were detained by the Nazis pending transportation to the extermination camps. Their demonstration eventually forced the Nazis to release the men.
The film's major message was that the Nazi regime was conscious of public opinion and backed down when resisted on the extermination issue. Whilst the women of Rosenstrasse were the only public demonstration of such resistance inside Nazi Germany, there were 2 notable acts of resistance to the Nazi's "final solution". One was the refusal of Boris, King of Nazi occupied Bulgaria to hand over Bulgaria's 50,000 Jews to the Nazi Murder Machine, claiming that they were too important to the wellbeing of the country, and the other was by King Mohamed V of Morocco who answered the Vichy French demand to deport the 265,000 strong ancient Jewish community by saying "There are no Jews in my country, only Moroccans!"
The ladies of Rosenstrasse also showed that the Nazis when challenged backed off - it is said that Goebbels himself ordered the rapid release because he feared that if the story be publicised it would encourage further demonstrations against the extermination program.
The film left me with the feeling that if the German people and the leaders of the states of occupied Europe had also protested many of the 6 million Jews and many millions of other minority groups could have been saved from the death camps. It reveals as a lie, the claim that ordinary people could do nothing against the Nazi regime - this for me is the film's most important message.
Osama (2003)
Superb acting in a realistic recreation of life under a repressive regime
The film is a successfully realistic re-creation of life under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Marina Golbhari superbly portrays a 12 year old girl forced to masquerade as a boy called Osama, in order to work to save her widowed mother and grandmother from starvation at a time when the Taliban totally obliterated women's rights. Women were forbidden to work and even to appear outside their home unless accompanied by a `legal' male escort (husband, father, brother,son). Schools and hospitals were closed and Islamic Sharia law was cruelly imposed.
The plan misfires when the Taliban extend their repressive operations to young boys. Eventually the secret is revealed, `Osama' is imprisoned and tried by Islamic court together with other `enemies of the people' - a foreign journalist to be shot and a European lady doctor to be stoned to death. Osama is sentenced to endure a fate worse than death.
The characters are said to be played by untrained actors, however the filmmaker, Siddiq Barmak, succeeded in eliciting really remarkable performances, at least from the main protagonists, who come to life with convincing reality, and quite amazing shows of emotion from such young players.
This film, like Mohsen Makhmalbaf's "Safar e Kandahar" (Grand Prix Cannes Film Festival 2001) exposes the crimes against humanity perpetrated by an Islamic fundamentalist regime in the name of religion. It is, not only, a masterpiece of shoestring-budget cinematography at its very best, but also a very grim and serious warning of the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism and the terrorist activities of Islamic regimes in those regions where they have been allowed to take power.
This film should be seen by everyone in Europe where militant or radical Islamic extremism is establishing itself as a significant minority and the Muslim community will soon outgrow indigenous populations in small countries. Also in North America where political correctness is eroding customs and culture thus creating a dangerous vacuum in which religious fundamentalism and fanaticism thrive.
This film is a `must-see' for those who doubt the sinister evil of the Taliban and other Islamic fundamentalist extremists.