Osama
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corporation (MGM) | Release Date: February 6, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
35
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The movie is a rare uncensored postcard from a ruined place, a document at once depressing and hideously beautiful that sketches the real hardships of trampled people -- specifically women -- with authority and compelling simplicity. Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Superb performances from a nonprofessional cast. It's gripping, timely, and revealing. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
A heartbreaking, powerful drama. Read full review
100
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
We are certainly entitled to marvel at its very existence, but that isn't enough. The work itself is extraordinary. Read full review
100
The New YorkerDavid Denby
The movie is an outright miracle. [8 March 2004, p. 92]
91
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Gorgeous and saddening, Osama makes the human-scale claim for the overthrow of governments ruled by the iron hand of religious fundamentalism far more persuasively than any of the rhetoric coming out of the White House or No. 10 Downing St. Read full review
90
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Osama's unvarnished vulnerability, along with the director's combination of tough-mindedness and lyricism, prevents the movie from becoming at all sentimental; instead, it is beautiful, thoughtful and almost unbearably sad. Read full review
90
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Although it's a drama, Osama feels like urgent documentary. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Osama begins in fear and ends in terror. In between there's all manner of hopelessness, deprivation, and death, which is to say that as the first film to come out of a post-Taliban Afghanistan, it's practically a documentary. Read full review
88
USA TodayMike Clark
A smooth mix of humanism and keen filmmaking instincts. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Brave dissenting Islamic filmmakers are risking their lives to tell the story of the persecution of women, and it is a story worth knowing, and mourning. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Osama works simply as the story of one unlucky young girl. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
It's a feminist nightmare, the world brought to life -- in hard-hitting documentary style. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Rarely has there been so obscenely precise a depiction of ravaged innocence. This young girl has nothing to live for--and an entire life ahead of her in which to live it. Read full review
80
VarietyDeborah Young
Apart from its historical interest, this tragic tale of religious extremism and misogyny is a very good film able to catch audiences up emotionally. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Effective as a drama as it spirals Golbahari deeper into her nightmarish world, Osama is similarly powerful as a fictionalized account of the Taliban's obscene wish for a world where the stringent enforcement of religious laws took the place of instinctual human kindness. Read full review
80
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Its sluggish, amateur-Kiarostami character would be off-putting if the material weren't so powerful. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
Raw and wretchedly current, it is a story that packs a cruel emotional wallop. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
At the center...lies the stunning Golbahari, a nonprofessional who recalls some of Bresson's most haunting model-actors in her intense, anguished grace. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The film serves as a potent reminder of what conditions were like in Afghanistan before the U.S. bombing campaign ended the Taliban's reign of terror, and, as such, its timing couldn't be any better. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Recreates the Taliban era with chilling details and startling beauty, and follows its terrified heroine on a journey that no child should have to take.
80
EmpireDavid Parkinson
The performances are credible, but set-pieces like the water-cannoning of a procession of burkha-clad protesters are also impeccably judged. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
In dramatic terms, Osama couldn't be much simpler. The director is aiming for a sort of tone poem of repression, the girl robbed first of her childhood, then of her burgeoning womanhood. Read full review
80
NewsweekDavid Ansen
The rage and sadness behind this film -- the first from Afghanistan since the Taliban's fall -- is matched by its artistry. Read full review
80
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
In its small, achingly beautiful way, this is the lesson that Osama teaches us: When one human being suffers, it is all of us who share her pain. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverMelissa Levine
For the most part the film is a miracle of accomplishment, elegant and bold and artful in a world devoid of resources. Read full review
75
New York PostJonathan Foreman
That it is such a powerful and indeed beautiful film is simply extraordinary. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldMarta Barber
In a cast of wonderful non-professional actors, unfortunately Osama is the weakest. But to be fair, Barmak focuses more on situations than on developing the characters. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
You watch the movie with an ongoing feeling of dread, and it's not a feeling that ever dissipates. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Obviously, this is no easy sell, but give writer-director Siddiq Barmak full credit for portraying his country's social catastrophe with restraint, concision and some real beauty. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
A harrowing depiction of a woman's plight under the Taliban. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Ends up being of greater historical significance than of any lasting artistic merit. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderReece Pendleton
Compelling despite an almost complete lack of subtlety. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
There are too few surprises and even less subtlety in the telling. We can only sit and wait for the next bomb to drop on this poor exploited girl. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Rough around the edges, but effectively presents the quandary of women during the repressive religious regime. Read full review
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