In the 1970's director Mohsen Makhmalbaf was a militant against the Shah; during a disturbance he tried to take a policeman's gun producing a struggle that resulted in him stabbing that officer a crime for which he then served time in prison. While away, he educated himself and was released from prison to be an influential voice within Iranian cinema. For this film he decided to use actors to recreate this event in his life with young actors playing himself and the policeman. However the director decides to split the actors each man gets the young version of himself, and their own camera to reconstruct events from their point of view. The experiment works producing further pain and anger.
This is a hard film to describe, far less review. Basically this is a film about making a film of a real event; and if that wasn't twisted enough, it is really two separate films made from two points of view, although to describe the story as a film is a bit too much, really the focus is recreating the one fateful moment the two men came together. Now I'm not sure if this is all as real as it appears to be (particularly did the officer only find out that his "love" was a plant at the moment he did in the film?) but if it is staged then it is done very convincingly. The story works and manages to do both aspects well at the same time something that the film makes look easy but must have been very difficult to pull off. It is engaging for that reason but the fact that it is real people and a real story only makes it more interesting, not to mention how touching and downright tragic parts of it are. The final image is the most tragic both young boys want to avoid the violence and want specific things for that moment other than the stabbing, just as (we assume) both wanted in reality but, despite the final shot of the film we know that the reality was the violent outcome.
The direction is superb, weaving together this tale with different actors and blending realities with such confidence. The "performances" are good, although please remember that I don't know if these were staged or as we saw them. If they were staged then high praise indeed should go to Tayebi, because he is convincing in his emotion, his passion and, ultimately, his heartbreak. The others do well around him but for me, he was the loser of the film and I ended feeling a great deal for him partly due to his presence on the screen.
I have done a bad job of reviewing this film and for that I am sorry. I have failed to describe how engaging it was, how the blending of the "filming of the re-enactment" and the "film of the filming of the re-enactment" merge but still are obvious and separate. I have failed to really do justice to the characters and the emotions involved in the story. However, my words should not detract from this very strong film that demands attention but rewards it in spades you should try to find it.
This is a hard film to describe, far less review. Basically this is a film about making a film of a real event; and if that wasn't twisted enough, it is really two separate films made from two points of view, although to describe the story as a film is a bit too much, really the focus is recreating the one fateful moment the two men came together. Now I'm not sure if this is all as real as it appears to be (particularly did the officer only find out that his "love" was a plant at the moment he did in the film?) but if it is staged then it is done very convincingly. The story works and manages to do both aspects well at the same time something that the film makes look easy but must have been very difficult to pull off. It is engaging for that reason but the fact that it is real people and a real story only makes it more interesting, not to mention how touching and downright tragic parts of it are. The final image is the most tragic both young boys want to avoid the violence and want specific things for that moment other than the stabbing, just as (we assume) both wanted in reality but, despite the final shot of the film we know that the reality was the violent outcome.
The direction is superb, weaving together this tale with different actors and blending realities with such confidence. The "performances" are good, although please remember that I don't know if these were staged or as we saw them. If they were staged then high praise indeed should go to Tayebi, because he is convincing in his emotion, his passion and, ultimately, his heartbreak. The others do well around him but for me, he was the loser of the film and I ended feeling a great deal for him partly due to his presence on the screen.
I have done a bad job of reviewing this film and for that I am sorry. I have failed to describe how engaging it was, how the blending of the "filming of the re-enactment" and the "film of the filming of the re-enactment" merge but still are obvious and separate. I have failed to really do justice to the characters and the emotions involved in the story. However, my words should not detract from this very strong film that demands attention but rewards it in spades you should try to find it.