Unlike most Persian films, there’s no metaphor in this story. Some Kurdish children at the Iraqi border have it really, really tough. This film about four children – two sisters, an older sister bartered away for marriage, and their severely developmentally disabled older brother Madi is incredibly difficult to watch – the harrowing scenes of the care the siblings lavish on Madi will stay in your minds for a long time. There’s no question of CGI or elaborate sets – most what happened in the film almost certainly actually happened: the long dangerous treks over the border, the mules given alcohol to keep them warm, the scenes in the bazaar. It’s a blur between film and documentary, with no hidden meaning, just a hard look at the injustice of life.
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No Bears by Jafar Panahi
Iranian cinema filmed in 2022 Iranian “New Wave” cinema seems to forsake narrative in favour of mood, in favour of speculative thought. The recently reviewed “A Time for Drunken Horses” by Bahman Ghobadi is an exception: this is straight storytelling, direct and true. “No Bears” also concerns itself with the pressing matter of border-smuggling but as a category of film it is something new: there is a narrative but there is also the constant presence of the filmmaker, Panahi himself. He attempts to stay neutral and only by the end is it clear the Panah may be well-meaning and detached…