Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame/Buda as sharm foru rikht

Directed by Hana Makhmalbaf. Starring Nikbakht Noruz 12A cert, Light House, Dublin, 81 min

***

THE Makhmalbaf tendency continues its unstoppable advance. Following in the footsteps of Mohsen, her distinguished father, and Samira, her equally lauded sister, Hana Makhmalbaf, still a green 20 years old despite already having a documentary under her belt, now delivers her first dramatic feature.

It's a touching piece featuring a knockout central performance, but the crude, unsubtle nature of the allegorical sequences may draw huffs and puffs from less forgiving viewers.

The tone and subject matter of Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame(which begins and ends with footage of the Taliban blowing up the statues of the Buddha at Bamyan) will be familiar to followers of Iranian cinema over the last few decades. The handheld camera follows a young Afghani girl, Baktay, as she makes her way towards a nearby school in the hope of being taught how to read "funny stories".

Having sold some eggs to generate money for a notebook, Baktay heads down the hill, only to be accosted by boys who are playing at being the Taliban. Appalled (or pretending to be appalled) at her ambitions to attend school, they tear out the pages of the notebook and make her wear a paper bag over her head. Later, they will take on the guise of American soldiers and accuse her of being a terrorist.

Such sequences - and others dealing with the tyranny of cosmetics - state the bleeding obvious in so bald a fashion that they lose any right to be described as allegorical.

Never mind. Makhmalbaf draws such an exhilaratingly charming performance from Nikbakht Noruz, just five years old, that Buddha's deficiencies seem quite insignificant. The confident young actor, far from inviting pathos, stomps about with a resolve that would shame the mightiest of emperors. Indeed, her conspicuous determination to shake off oppression lends a degree of optimism to the film's otherwise gloomy conclusion.

Any child who dares to moan about school should be dragged to the Light House and forced to watch Makhmalbaf's film. Heck, they might even enjoy it.