Reviews

In par with the best Italian Neo-realist Masterpieces, this haunting film is a Chekovian tale of the wasted lives of a railway line-worker and his wife. The pace, the directing and the actings are so good that

it will stay to haunt you for a long time, probably forever, once you have watched it. A masterpiece by any definition.

Of all Iranian films, this is the only one so far that realistically deals with the ugly aftermath one the Iran-Iraq war which lasted for 8 years.It deals with a dislocated families who have lost just about everything except their dignity, who try to get by in spite of poverty, rationing and crime. It also tries to show the underbelly of the capital Tehran, the world of wheeler-dealers, petty thieves and scoundrels.The tell-tale writing on the wall "WAR, WAR,UNTIL VICTORY" can still be seen, a reminder of the viciousness of country's leaders, who stubbornly continued the devastating war for personal, expansionist and ideological reasons (we now know that many of them amassed dizzying amounts of wealth during and because of the war). The film -which is made with poor equipment, cheap raw film and lots of talent and thoughtfulness- is aptly dedicated to Vittorio De Sica's "The Bicycle Thief".

This epoch-making poem opens with a film crew trying to cast for a movie in a provincial village, in the aftermath of A DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE which has claimed many, many lives. We then are shown that the remaining people are trying to rebuild their lives, picking up bits and pieces of the past, but with an eye to the future.example of these people are the boy and the girl who are selected to play the protagonists of the melodrama to be made. The crew's interest interest in these people is limited to their role and usefulness for director's vision of the film, and no more. But-and this is a crucial BUT-the boy and the girl have their own agenda, and don't care very much for the screenplay dictated by the director (for instance repeated takes of the tea-serving scene): The girl wants to wear colorful and jolly dress, and the boy wants to be able to love her. Eventually, the boy follws the girl into the magnificent ending shot of the expanse of the olive groves, and into the ubncertain but potentially hopeful future. Will life, love and color be able to vanquish darkness and death? Will the boy and the girl find the courage and and power to fire the crew, the director, the casting agent , down to the ticket-vendor and become subjects of their own life and destiny? ... This is to be continued.........