Some quick notes (yeah right) on Majid Majidi's newest film,
Baran, a love story of sorts, between a young Iranian day laborer and an Afghani girl who, due to her father's injury, is forced to dress as a boy and work a construction job (first we get the obligatory antagonism, as the girl, Baran, under the name Rahmat, replaces Lateef in his role as construction site gofer/cook; which lasts precisely to the moment when Lateef learns Baran's secret). While at times, Majidi seems to be channeling De Sica (neo-realism + sentimentality), this film is much less sentimental, especially when compared to
The Color of Paradise, most of the time it is quiet and muted, and I really enjoyed the cinematography. Like
The Color of Paradise,
Baran is sort of a theological/moral play, as Lateef is transformed, via his unspoken love, from a selfish teenager to a paragon of Islamic charity. While watching the film, I couldn't help but think of two other, similar, yet far superior, films: Abbas Kiarostami's
Through the Olive Trees, with it's portrait of young Iranian lovers, and the Dardenne's brothers
La Promesse, with it's portrait of exploited, poor refugee workers. Sure,
Baran is watchable, and even enjoyable, but I would rather sit down and watch those other two films.
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