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***1/2 of ****
Rated: not rated, but call it a G
Length: 118 minutes
Writers:
Abbas Kiarostami
Mahmoud Ayedin
Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Assistant Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Cast:
Behzad Dourani: the engineer
Synopsis:
The main character is the engineer from Tehran who arrives at a remote Kurdish farming village with his heard, but unseen crew to shoot a documentary about a rare funeral ceremony. There is a very old woman there known as the invalid who in near death, but she won't be cooperative and just die! Their initial plan to stay in the village for about three days gets drawn out into several weeks as they wait and get to experience the local ways. The old village has a few modern amenities, but to use the cell phone, the engineer must repeatedly drive to higher ground.
Review:
This film was shot on a location full of the real people living their lives in a beautiful hilly region with clear blue skies and fields ready for harvest. Much of the story lies within the parts where little seems to happen at all. The "gaps" between the day to day activities of a farming community, the goals of the visitors, and the unclosed ending of the film leave room for completion by what the director calls "the creative spirit of the audience." This will confuse some people used to Hollywood movies, but it is an uplifting film and more coherent than most European films. In fact, this had a better IMDB user rating by US-voters than by non-US-voters. Some of the key characters are never seen, but they are present through voice or effect, and that makes for a freer interpretation of events. The contrast of the engineer's view of the world with that of the locals is important to the meaning in what is seen, however, audience members from cultures vastly different from that of northern Iran may not see this as clearly. There are no straight paths taken which tends to pull the viewer into a more organic state of mind. The audience had much to laugh at throughout the film, but its nearly 2 hour length and peacefulness (and late showing) put a few people out cold. The engineer does a great job as the not so good, not so bad guy waiting to do his job as he is slowly moved by what he sees around him. The rest of the cast was chosen to basically play themselves with guided, not scripted dialog which makes this a worthwhile experience.
She is a creator of erotic feminist poetry who is considered Iran's greatest poet of the last century and the best ever woman poet of Persian literature The following translation differs slightly from the one used in the film's cellar scene.
The Wind Will Carry Us
in my small night, what mounting
regret!
wind has a rendezvous with the trees'
leaves
in my small night, there is terror
of desolation
listen! do you hear
the wind of darkness howling?
I watch breathless
-ly and wondrously this alien happiness
I am addicted to my own hopelessness
listen! listen well!
can you hear the darkness
howling? -- the dark hell
-wind scything
its way towards us?
in the night now, there is something
passing
the moon is red restless and uneasy
and on this roof -- which fears
any moment
-- it may cave in --
clouds like crowds of mourners
await to break in rain
ruin
a moment
and then after that, nothing.
behind this window, night shivers
and the earth stands still
behind this window an unknown
something fears for me and you
O you who are green from head to toe!
put your hands
-- like a burning
memory into my loving hands --
lover's hands!
entrust your lips -- your lips
like a warm sense of being! --
entrust! -- your lips to the caresses of my
-- loving lips -- lover's lips!
the wind will carry us with it
the wind will carry us with it