Growing up in Afghanistan, Barmak dreamed of being a cinema projectionist, but he eventually realized that he wanted to have a more hands-on role in filmmaking.
In 1987, he received his M.A. in cinema direction from the Moscow Film Institute (VGIK). In 1988, Barmak made his first documentary short. In 1991, he filmed his first full-length documentary.
From 1992 to 1996, Barmak was head of the Afghan Film Organization while living in Kabul.
However, when the Taliban took control, filmmaking was banned, and Barmak was forced to escape first to the north, then eventually to Pakistan.
Returning in 2001 after an American-led invasion brought about the collapse of Taliban, Barmak re-established the Afghan Film Organization.
He went on to found the Buddha Film Organization. Unfortunately, all of Barmak's previous works were confiscated and destroyed during the Taliban regime.
Two years later, Barmak decided to write and direct the film of which he is best known. This was the 2003 Afghan/Irish/Japanese/Iranian/Dutch war/drama film 'Osama'.
The Taliban closes down a hospital, putting a mother (Zubaida Sahar) and daughter (Marina Golbahari) who work there out of a job.
Legally prohibited from going out unaccompanied by men, and having none to rely on, they hatch a desperate plan to disguise the daughter as a boy answering to the name "Osama."
On a small budget of $45,00 the film was a box office success, grossing $3,888,902 worldwide.
The ruse works for a while, but when the Taliban begins conscripting boys for their training school, Osama fears it won't be long before she is discovered.
Although the title of the film highlights an allegorical relevance to Osama bin Laden, there is no further similarity.
Upon release, 'Osama' was very well received by the Western cinematic world. It gathered a rating of 96% based on one hundred and two reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes.
The critical consensus reads: "Osama is bitterly honest, deeply disturbing, and utterly worth watching."
The following year, 'Osama' won a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. This occurred at the 61st Golden Globe Awards in late January 2004.
Of the film, Roger Ebert wrote: "Osama" is like a film from some long-ago age.
Although it takes place in Afghanistan, it documents practices so cruel that it is hard to believe such ideas have currency in the modern world.
What it shows is that, under the iron hand of the Taliban, the excuse of "respect" for women was used to condemn them to a lifetime of inhuman physical and psychic torture. No society that loves and respects women could treat them in this way."
He also went on to say: "People work hard for their money, and if they want to be entertained, that's their right.
But 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."
In the American quarterly journal of literature and the arts The Hudson Reiew, American film critic, author, editor and professor Bert Cardullo pointed out the film's intentional omission of any spoken female names, emphasizing the casual, unthinking oppression of females under the Taliban regime.
Writing for the American radical feminist periodical off our backs, Priya Verma described the film as "gripping and unflinching."
However, she worried that the film might seem unduly negative toward Islam, but concluded that Barmak's focus was the authoritarian control tactics employed by the Taliban against women contributed, rather than Islam in general.
Among his credits, Barmak is also know for directing the 2008 South Korean/Afghan/Japanese black comedy war/drama film 'Opium War'.
Barmak has been active from 1983–present.
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