(2001)
3.5
Jonathan Crow
During 2001, just before September 11th, Iranian cinema saw a spate of films -- Mohsen Makhmalbaf's stunning Kandahar, Abolfazl Jalili's Delbaran, and Majid Majidi's Baran -- about its troubled neighbor to the East. Whereas Makhmalbaf's film directly addresses the suffering in Afghanistan using a mixture of lyricism and direct political commentary, Majidi stays in his home country exploring the uneasy relations between Afghan refugees and Iran's underclass. The first half of Baran seems pulled straight out of Italian neorealism. Majidi shows the audience the dangerous working conditions, the exploitations, and the shady business dealings of impoverished day laborers. His political message during this half -- the brutal market demands that force Memar to hire Afghans because "they work harder for less money" and the economic state of the Afghan workers which continuously teeters on brink of oblivion -- packs a real charge. In the second half of the film, Majidi retreats from politics into almost the realm of romantic comedy. While the film loses some of its heft in the transition (less charitable reviewers might accuse Majidi of losing his nerve) the film more than makes up for it in lyricism and insightful observation. Latif desperately wants to help Najaf and his family but really has no idea how. Baran is a beautifully wrought tale that is definitely worth a look.
Baran on AllMovie
Baran (2001)
