Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame

It all starts with the Talibans blowing the Buddha statues away. This is somewhat the platform for the rest.

A little Afghani girl wants to go to school. She can't afford a notebook and a pencil, but she finds her way. But there are other obstacles. One of them is this boy gang, who is playing Talibans and Americans. But are they really playing? One of the most moving scenes is there the girl physically tries to find her place at school, but is rejected. The tempo is slow according to action standards, but the pictures are often beautiful and full of drama in a way action is light-years behind.

This is an unusual film, but not a film that can be considered a major work of cinema. The Iranian film is shot on Afghan locations very close to the spot where the fundamentalist Muslim Taliban destroyed the centuries-old rock hewn gigantic statue of Buddha. Had it existed today, it could have been a modern wonder of the world. Hence the title--"Buddha collapsed from shame". The film location probably has not a single Buddhist--at least officially. It is habited by gentle, peace loving Muslims terrorized by fundamentalist Muslims. Women are forced to wear burkhas--to cover their hair. If the women use lipstick, they are brutally punished, even stoned to death, after being given water to drink before they die! Girls are not allowed to attend school, while boys are. The film begins with the documentary footage of the destruction of the Buddha statue.

The film is an interesting film for several reasons. It is directed by a 19-year-old girl--daughter of a famous Iranian director. Like Sofia Coppola, her family must have encouraged her at every step.

The movie is equally interesting because a Muslim director is criticizing the Taliban.

The most valuable part of the film is that the criticism is indirect as perceived from a child's perspective. The entire story is told by a lovely, persistent, young girl child who yearns to learn to read and attend school, and makes intelligent use of her mother's lipstick and four eggs taken from her home to attain her aim in life. Her mother is away, working. (I guess here shades of director Hana Makhmalbaf's personal aspirations are mirrored, though she led a much better life than the Afghan girl.) The film is a wonderful example of use of kids in world cinema. What credible performances!

Yet there are problems with the film. Many sequences seem to remind you of "Lord of the Flies". There is a sequence where the girl child ties a baby with a rope and leaves for school--but this scene is never followed up. There is another scene where the girl rings the school bell, and no one in the school seems to notice her action. Humour takes its toll on credibility. Yet Hana needs to be commended for her brave and intelligent work.

The film opened the 12th International Film Festival Of Kerala, in India, today

I stumbled upon this film on TV while feeling rather down. At first I thought it was a documentary and was interested by it, after 5 minutes I was hooked.

As the story unfolded I soon realised that it was a film that captures a realism rarely seen on screen, nothing in this film seems contrived if anything it is ad hoc and natural.

I couldn't believe how much I instantly warmed to the characters especially the central character.

Without giving anything away this feature moved me, disturbed me, humbled me and left me in awe.

You need to see this film for yourself, any description I could give would be a disservice to it.

To tell a story without telling the audience what they should and shouldn't feel is courageous in any age; in this age of zealotry and cynicism, and especially in the film makers' own region, it is almost messianic...siddhartic even.

And of course, what better way to cut through the bu11shit and get to the facts than to lay them out from a child's perspective? The innocent child who still has a free will shows us how the world might be if conditions were better; the innocent children who have been indoctrinated, thereby mirroring the adult world, show us how the sorry world of today really is.

Children represent the truth, but not for long: the battle for their souls is the battle for the future.

Sometimes in life the simplest pleasures are the best, how true that statement really is. Sometimes in cinema the simplest plots are the best, in the case of 'Buddha collapsed of Shame' the latter statement is certainly true. In a part of the world renowned for its danger yet quite unknown, the very essence of the movie to portray life in the remote regions of Afghanistan through the eyes of a six year old girl is a masterstroke. It does away with the needless baggage that an adult would bring with them such as their political views, their in-purity and lack of innocence. The beautiful thing about it is the aim of our 'hero' is so very simple as are her ideals, yet because of the world she lives in she is presented with at times terrifying challenges. It truly is a ride that invigorates various emotions throughout it, and at the end of it all you leave it comforted yet troubled.