This is the most moving movie I've seen in years. Determined to read all of Abbas's works.
I have only seen two of Abbas's later works - "Legal Copy" and "Like a River of Love". Neither is an Iranian story, and neither is "Where Is My Friend's Home" as shocking. While watching the film, I imagined that Abbas wearing sunglasses, an uncle, was walking among the stone roads in a small town in Iran, with children, shooting, guiding, talking with passers-by, and arranging scenes. It seems like a tall uncle is carefully baking a sweet cake to give to the person he loves the most. It could be a wife or a child.
The faces of the characters in the play are very distinct. Let the little boy go to the grandfather who fetches the cigarette, the grandfather who moves the stone, the aunt who hangs the clothes, and the two little boys at the same table. I don't know how many are actors and how many are passersby. Abbas has a habit of letting passersby act. The confusion and reality on the faces of passers-by have a vivid and gentle illusion, naked and sincere. Children are the weakest of the weak. Teachers can reprimand, parents can ignore, and other adults can dictate. Except for the old man who helped him lead the way, because the children and relatives were not around, he seemed to be a weakling abandoned by society, and the two had an equal dialogue.
Fortunately, in the end, pure deceived the teacher. It appears to be a tender protest from Abbas to this violent world.
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