Son of a Lion

"The Essential Cinema: Films of the Middle East and Beyond" series runs from January 12 through February 16, 2010. Information from the AFS web site:

Son of a Lion

Cinematography by Benjamin Gilmour and Haroon John
Edited by Alison Croft
Pakistan/Australia, 2007, distributed by Mara Pictures (UK), color, 92 min.
Cast: Niaz Khan Shinwari, Sher Alam Miskeen Ustad
Pashtu with English subtitles

Eleven-year-old Niaz desperately wants to go to school, but his father refuses and makes him assist in making and repairing guns in his shop in a small town in the Northwestern province of Pakistan, home to Afghan and Pakistani Pashtun and the problematic Taliban refugees. The young boy finds allies in his uncle Baktiyar and a poetry-loving older friend Agha Jaan, but the father’s mind is set against education, since he received none himself. Even though he is very proud of his valiant struggles against the Russian invaders of Afghanistan and certainly wants his only child to grow up to be a brave man, it becomes questionable if he really wants his son to become a warrior back in Afghanistan?  His anti-education motives may be more complicated than what they appear. This rare look into the complex politics and alliances of northwestern Pakistan was accomplished with the assistance (writing and acting) of residents of the region.