I wasn't
really paying close attention when I chose this film to watch. I had thought
that the director was Jafar Panahi and I thought oh, he has slipped another
film under the radar of the Iranian authorities but as I realized later this
is directed by his son, Panah Panahi in his debut. It is small in scope but
a very assured film reminding me to some degree of his father's films that
by nature, finances and government restrictions are intimate personal films.
And like his father, the censors rejected the film script but the filmmakers
literally went out on the road and made it anyway. Far away from the prying
eyes of the censors. Without approval a film cannot be shown in Iran and
thus films such as this are primarily made for international film festivals
and the hope that a Western company will buy the rights to it.
As you watch it, you can't be surprised that the politically sensitive government
rejected it. Directors have to be very careful and hide their meanings and
critical barbs in a subtle manner but the fact that a character is being
smuggled out of Iran - for reasons we never find out - religious, political
or escaping the army - will clearly get rejected. It takes courage to make
films in Iran if you do not have permission. You can end up in jail. Just
this week three Iranian directors were arrested - Jafar being one -
not for a film but for writing an open letter asking that the security forces
stop brutalizing demonstrators who were protesting the collapse of a building.
In the film you feel like you have been thrown into the middle of a Landover
along with a family of four - father, mother, older son, young son
and a dying dog. For 90 minutes you eavesdrop on their conversations, their
songs, their prayers, their carping, the humdrum of traveling long distances,
the emotions they don't want to talk about but that circle within the car.
As they travel through the stunning mountainous landscapes with a few stops,
the photography is lovely, the framing exquisite, the close-ups personal
and emotional
But where I differ from every professional review I read was that I didn't
like this family. I would have gotten out and walked after an hour
with them or thrown out or sedated the young boy within minutes. The critics
called him impossibly cute, adorable, witty - I call him an ADS monster who
never shuts up. He is like an unending vocal stream of consciousness. Since
the parents look to be so much older than him - six years old - I had to
wonder if they found him on the street as they did the dog. The older son
is a sullen ungrateful whiny man-boy. The father relishes in being rude and
has been in a leg cast for four months and so does nothing but snack and
snark the whole time. He calls the young boy a fart, the older boy
a shit. Mom is ok but acts like the end of the world has arrived. At least
the dog is dying. Undoubtedly, there is love under the insults, the barbs,
the annoyances but you need a shovel to uncover it.
I understand that this should not weigh in on my opinion of a film that had
a near hidden message about the Iran of today where so many are trying to
leave because of the repressive nature of the government but I wish I had
liked them more. I kept asking myself, why didn't they leave the boy with
relatives. Because what they are doing is illegal. The older son has in some
way crossed the law and they have to get him out of the country through traffickers.
They are nervous about being followed and found. We get our first clue when
they take away the young boy's cell phone and take out the SIM card and later
they wonder if they are being followed. They had to sell their house and
car to raise the money to pay for this. The older son feels a little guilty
but apparently not that much. It is a ravishing film to look at and the critics
love it so I feel like a relative of Jack the Ripper for not piling on in
joy. It felt like a long road trip.
