The Orphanage

The film is about a kid named Qodratullah who is forced to live in an orphanage by the pro-Soviet government of Afghanistan in 19189 Kabul. As soon as he arrives in the orphanage which is around 10-15 minutes in, the director lifts her focus and camera from the kid and tries instead to capture every elements in that place such as the kids, the dorms, the teachers and supervisers and so on.

This film is made based on unpublished diaries of Mr. Anwar Hashimi who also stars in this film and he lived in such a place for 8 years when he was a teenager. As a result, the main focus and star of this film is the mentioned orphanage and director Shahrbanoo Sadat reflects on Afghans culture and the country's political state at that time period as a subplot to the life in the orphanage.

The filmmakers have done their best to give us a human, sans cliche film and they have pretty much succeeded doing so. If you've got a chance to see this piece, don't miss it.

Wonderful, a six-handed production (countries) that social criticism we love, bathing in history, a sad time the takeover of Afghanistan by the Soviets, called the War in Afghanistan (1979-1989), and the outcome, the film, could not to be different, the tragedy, the sadness, the defeat, and the interrupted ending, of the unspoken drama...

Pros: 1. The dialogue is incredibly grounded and genuine, thus giving the conversations an air of realism to the adolescent boy interactions. 2. The cinematography is gorgeously scaled-back, again adding to the realistic feel. 3. The short intermittent sing-a-long scenes in Hindu-Urdu are exceedingly entertaining, bizarre, and eye-popping. 4. The film does a great job at highlighting the similarities between The West and pre-Mujahideen Afghanistan.

Cons: 1. The movie is needlessly slow-paced and, at times, is a little bit of a chore to get through. 2. Most of the characters are unspeakably plane and uninteresting, with nothing to them (the exception being Qodrat (Quodratollah Qadiri) as he's shown to be thrifty, however that trait is shown early on and is then forgotten about). 3. The acting is generally really stale and uninspiring. 4. The script is unfocused, disjointed, and it often feels that the scenes are just jumping from one-to-the-next with little coherence. 5. There are copious sub-plots introduced, and then carelessly discarded with no resolution. With examples being, Qodrat's possible love interest, or the Russian military presence and Russian diplomatic ties to pre-Mujahideen Afghanistan. 6. The ending death of Anwar (Anwar Hashimi) falls resolutely flat as he's barely a character, and the death isn't set up at all. It also doesn't help that there's this strange sing-and-fight sequence straight after.

Innovative and delicate film on the lives of poor boys in Afghanistan who have been sent to an orphanage. Through their eyes spectator sees dramatic changes in Afghanistan, from Soviet influence until the emergence of religious fundamentalism. The movie does not avoid the serious particular problems of each moment. Besides the social and political issues, I shall also highlight that the main character among those boys used to illegally re-sell movie theatre tickets, and loves cinema. Therefore, one of the most special elements of the film is how, during harsh episodes, his mind brings back the Bollywood scenes he loves in a way of making reality nicer and softer in a day-dreaming illusion.

"The Orphanage" may techincally be a 'Danish' film but it's set in Kabul during the Russian invasion and it is as much a homage to Bollywood as anything and is a much better one than Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire". It's hero is Qodrat, (Quodratollah Qadiri, wonderful and basically playing himself), a teenage boy living on the streets who is arrested for selling cinema tickets illegally and put in the orphange of the title; it turns out to be the making of him.

Shahrbanoo Sadat's second feature could easily have been full of neo-realist angst but Sadat imbues it with so much affection that the angst completely disappears even if the Bollywood tendency to kitsch is never far away while it's young cast, (non-professionals all), are excellent. This is a political film where the politics take a back seat and a coming-of-age movie devoid of sentimentality. Its sweetness is intoxicating and even when tragedy strikes Sadat never over-emphasizes but simply accepts that this is the way things are. A really lovely film.