After two documentaries, Diana Saqeb Jamal tries her hand in a short feature, which was selected in the Orizzonti section of the 76th Venice International Film Festival.
The titular character is a 12-years girl who finds herself in the middle of a media frenzy, after surviving a suicide bomb attack. As we watch the people who are going to record her asking her how to move and where to stand, her mother combing her hair and a local statesman asking her mother not to dress her wound properly to be more visible for the press, it soon becomes obvious that something is not working in this setting. No one seems to truly care about the trauma of the girl or her feelings and psychological status, but only about parading her around to gain what they can from her exposure.
As the fact that she is in shock becomes rather obvious, the people interviewing her actually ask her to walk away, with her father speaking while completely ignoring her.
Diana Saqeb Jamal highlights an aspect rarely mentioned or discussed, regarding the trauma of the survivors of this war, and particularly the way it has affected the psyche of children. Roqaia here is obviously victimized a second time, and the “rules” of Afghan society do not let the only person who seems to care about her, her mother, to take care of her.
The loneliness the girl feels after such a traumatic experience is communicated excellently by both her looks and body stances, with Roqia Rasuli highlighting her psychological status through a rather eloquent silence, and through Zabihullah Saifi Askar imposing cinematography, who makes a point of showing how detached she is from her surroundings. That the frames she is placed in (house, forest, a hill above the city) are rather beautiful intensify this antithesis, making Jamal's messages all the more impactful.
“Roqaia” is a very eloquent short that manages to communicate its comments with artfulness in the just 11 minutes of its duration.
