"The Orphanage" may technically be a 'Danish' film but it's set in Kabul during the Russian invasion and it is as much a homage to Bollywood as anything and is a much better one than Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire". It's hero is Qodrat, (Quodratollah Qadiri, wonderful and basically playing himself), a teenage boy living on the streets who is arrested for selling cinema tickets illegally and put in the orphanage of the title; it is the making of him.Shahrbanoo Sadat's second feature could easily have been full of neo-realist angst but Sadat imbues it with so much affection that the angst completely disappears even if the Bollywood tendency to kitsch is never far away while it's young cast, (non-professionals all), are excellent. This is a political film where the politics take a back seat and a coming-of-age movie devoid of sentimentality. Its sweetness is intoxicating and even when tragedy strikes Sadat never over-emphasizes but simply accepts that this is the way things are. A really lovely film.
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