Acclaimed at Cannes and especially of-theꦕ-moment given our government's adventures overseas, Osama is so unsparing it almost makes Samira Makhmalbaf (Blackboards, At Five In The Afternoon) look like a sellout.

Set in Afghanistan under the (now-defunct) Taliban regime, it follows a mother and daughter stuck in a Catch 22: women are not allowed to work, but the man of the house has been killed. The solution? Young Osama (Marina Golbahari) has her hair c🍎ut short and is sent out to earn a living, only to be forced to undertake r🦹eligious instruction with young boys - - a situation Osama can only survive for so long.

The slight story🧔 is used to examine the effects of hardcore fundamentalism, with deft camerawork and affecting acting ensuring it could almost work as a silent movie. The Ken Loach-on-downers approach is a little oppressive, but it's worth noting the non-professional Golbahari is still living in such hardship for real. Now that's depressing.