Buda as sharm foru rikht (2007)

The film opens with black-and-white archive footage of the giant Buddha statues of Bamiyan, followed by their destruction in an explosion. It depicts the daily lives of Afghans in this region. Among the people living in caves on the mountainside, in the shadow of the vanished Buddhas, is Baktay, a six-year-old girl who wants to learn to read and go to school “to listen to funny stories.” Alone, she braves every danger to buy a notebook. Along the way, she encounters the violence of boys playing at war. Beneath its seemingly simple narrative, Hana Makhmalbaf creates an allegorical account of the effects of war, poverty, and adult violence on children. “This film isn’t only about war or a region, but about children in general: those who have been influenced by their parents, and places where there is everyday violence,” says Hana Makhmalbaf. “Play dead if you want to be free” is the terrible line that concludes the film. Hana Makhmalbaf weaves symbols throughout her film. “The notebook is a symbol of destroyed culture, the piece of wood of all wars, and the lipstick of all forms of oppression,” she says.