Sushmita is an Indian woman who falls in love with and marries an Afghan Muslim, Jaanbaz. However, when they return to Afghanistan under the Taliban, she finds herself imprisoned by the repressive Taliban regime. Sushmita longs to return to India with her daughter - but in a country where woman must be escorted at all times, how can she escape?
by Omar Ahmed |
Published on
Release Date:
01 Jan 2003
Running Time:
0 minutes
Certificate:
15
Original Title:
Escape From The Taliban
Ujjal Chatterjee's adaptation of Sushmita Banerjee's autobiographical account of her escape from her Afghan husband's country is beautifully performed, fiendishly meticulous, sensitively handled and steeped in knowing references.
Nevertheless, the director's debut work is, overall, only an admirable attempt to wrestle the harsh realities of rural Afghanistan away from the brutal regime imposed by its fundamentalist government, and fails to really make the political point sharply enough.
Manisha Koirala plays the victimised wife who raises her voice against horrific atrocities directed towards women in a male-dominated society. Generally, the cast rise above the limitations of this thriller, which ups its own stakes with immense political consequences.
Over-long perhaps, but this well-performed piece gives a terrifying insight into the lives of women under the Taliban.
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