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Zabladowski
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Delbaran (2001)
02. Oct 2002 at 23:51
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Delbaran is an Iranian film which was released last year. As Del Bosque and cal pointed out in another discussion, Iran has produced a large number of great boy movies in the past decade or so.  The film stars Kaim Alizadeh.

Delbaran is a remote Iranian village close to the border with Afghanistan, lost in the midst of a desert. Kaim, an Afghan boy of 14, succeeds in crossing illegally the border into Iran. Several miles in, he finds shelter in Delbaran, in a truckstop tavern run by an elderly couple: Khan and Khale. Kaim helps them with the errands, in the kitchen, makes tea for the drivers, helps to repair the broke down cars, and the couple treats him like a son. But one day a police officer, who is in charge of tracking down the illegal Afghan labourers, discovers Kaim´s true identity and arrests him. The old woman, Khale, succeeds in obtaining his release. But soon a new road, built mostly by illegal Afghani workers, is open – and it misses Delbaran. The trucks no longer make a stopover at the tavern, now hopelessly empty…

IMDB has a reader review which gives us more of a feel for the film than just reading the synopsis..."The film is unusual in having very little dialogue and offers nothing by way of explanation of the wider context of war and cross-border migration which forms the backdrop to the events that are portrayed. The characters in the film are all too aware of the conflict and the sounds of automatic weapons are always within earshot, but they are so much an accepted part of their lives that they feel no need to comment on them. And that is one of the strengths of the film that makes it so compelling a portrait of life in this remote community. At one level, very little seems to go on in the film which has the feel of a documentary without a voiceover. In fact, a lot happens off camera, as revealed by indirect images and sounds, but the main emphasis of the film is the extraordinary yet humdrum nature of life in a marginalized community. The film has a distinctive look and feel, with an emphasis on images, movement and sound, and, although one would be hard pressed to identify a conventional narrative structure or message, there are aspects that resonate in the mind long after watching it. A recurring image is of three or even four men riding a single motorbike back and forth along a dusty mountain road. An especially poignant moment in a film in which the hardships of life mean that the characters hardly ever show great emotion, is when the central character of the 14-year old boy, Kaim, is offered medical help for an ear infection: his smile lights up the screen at this small act of human kindness. Highly recommended."
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« Last Edit: 16. Feb 2004 at 23:09 by cal-Q-L8 »  
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Delbaran (2001)
Reply #1 - 04. Oct 2002 at 10:47
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Without these movies from Iran I'd never have know how beautiful some parts of the country are. Or how talented some of their young actors are. I guess this movie is more typical of what one would expect from such a dry country.

Perhaps we should send Iran a Boyacts award in recognition of their outstanding continued achievement in bringing thoughtful and 'different' boy movies to fruition.
  
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