一群阿富汗妇女正在为工作权利而上街游行,塔利班很快赶到,用水枪冲散人流,女孩奥萨玛(Marina Golbahari 饰)和母亲湿漉漉的回到家里。奥萨玛一家的男丁全部在战争中失去,母亲只能靠私人行医贴补家用,而塔利班是不允许女性工作的,为解决生计,奥萨玛被家人乔装成男孩,送到父亲老战友的小店内工作,但是塔利班很快将奥萨玛送入伊斯兰学校,流浪儿艾士潘迪(Arif Herati 饰)在学校里帮助奥萨玛隐藏性别,不过事情还是败露了,奥萨玛的童年,在塔利班手中无奈的结束。 本片全部由业余演员出演,获2003年戛纳电影节观众票选最佳影片、金摄影奖及年青导演奖,2004年金球奖最佳外语片奖等十余项专业褒奖。The Taliban are ruling Afghanistan, they being a repressive regime especially for women, who, among other things, are not allowed to work. This situation is especially difficult for one family consisting solely of three women representing three successive generations. All the males in their family have died in various Afghani wars. The mother had been working as a nurse in a hospital, but regardless of she not being allowed to work, the Taliban has cut off funding to the hospital. The mother and grandmother make what they feel is the only decision they can to survive: they will have the preteen daughter masquerade as a boy so that she can get a job to support the family. The daughter, feeling powerless, agrees despite being scared as if the Taliban discover her masquerade, she is certain they will kill her. Partly as a symbolic measure, the daughter plants a lock of her now cut hair in a pot so that her lost femininity can flourish. The only people outside the family who know of the ruse are the milk vendor who employs the daughter - he who was a friend of her deceased father - and a local boy named Espandi who recognizes her despite her outward change in appearance. Espandi renames her Osama. The masquerade becomes more difficult when the Taliban recruit all the local boys to school, which includes military training.