The documentary begins with images of the city ruins of Kabul, and Barmak's voice narrating the current conditions of Afghanistan and its uncertain future. He details his mission to tell Afghanistan's story to the world, "who have not really felt the depth of our pain."

To tell this story, Barmak searches for a cast, not through a talent agency, but in exploring refugee camps, orphanages, and the rubble-filled streets of Kabul. A number of girls at an orphanage and a street-children's school are interviewed and asked to speak about their tragedies. They describe in detail the horrors of war and losing family members. One girl explains witnessing her father being beaten to death by the Taliban.

Barmak finds a very shy girl in the streets and asks her to sing a song. She sings the only knows she knows, "The Soldier's Song." He then asks her what makes her sad. She tells of her sisters' deaths during a rocket attack. She instantly cries and cannot stop. Barmak sees a distinctive spark in her eyes, senses her great sensitivity, and selects her as the film's lead role. Her name is Marina Golbahari. She is a 13-year-old product of war.

In many scenes, Barmak, in the director's seat, intensely employs method acting techniques with Marina, having her express profound emotions by probing her to recall the many misfortunes of her short life: the death of her older sisters, missile attacks, nights of hunger. By digging into personal experiences, Marina expresses those emotions in character and becomes the stronghold in an intensely realistic film that depicts the tragedy of a nation.

More is discovered about Marina. She is from the once vineyard and orchid filled region of Shamali Plains, north of Kabul, now littered with landmines, gutted tanks, and other war debris. The young girl's new home is a tiny room that she and her family of eight share in a slum neighborhood of Kabul. She and her siblings beg and search for food to feed their family. The role in the film is the only job Marina has had other than begging, upon which she emotionally comments, "Until when will we have to beg? It is better to die than live like this."

Today, Kabul is packed with beggars, most of them children. Over 60,000 children live and work in the streets, and the numbers are growing. The documentary illustrates disturbing images of children in tattered cloths begging and rummaging through trash dumps. Nakamura stresses that they are children merely trying to survive and wonder about their future. It is appalling to see children forced into this situation. Marina utters, "Before the film, no one ever talked to me. No one cared."

Witnessing these calamities, whether firsthand or through watching films like Osama and Marina, imparts immense grief on many Afghans, particularly in the Western Diaspora. The feeling is almost one of survivor's guilt as we realize this could have easily been our family members or our neighbors.

Barmak calls Afghans "the side effects of war", or what in the West is simply labeled as the "collateral damage of war". When the smoke clears, the aftermath is often not reported: destruction, death, and emotional scars that never heal.

Marina is a television style documentary produced by Japanese television company NHK and was featured at the Chicago and Seattle International Documentary Film Festivals in 2004 and will hopefully go on to be featured in many more festivals and showings.

A powerfully informative documentary, Marina not only gives a behind-the-scenes account of the making of Osama, but it also provides an in-depth perspective on the actors' lives and the theme of the film. In addition, it offers a reality check on the current situation of Afghanistan-- the lack of progress, reconstruction and rehabilitation.