Directed by Abbas Kiarostami • 1979 • Iran
Starring Mehdi Azadbakht, Mohammadreza Barati, Hedayat Matin Daftari
Made in the spring of 1979, not long after the shah’s overthrow, this extraordinary film serves as a Rorschach blot for people in a revolutionary mindset. Abbas Kiarostami stages two versions of a classroom-discipline situation—in one, a student tells on a troublemaker; in the other, seven students refuse to rat—and then has several adult authorities comment on the outcomes. The fascinating responses evoke conflicts between order and resistance.
Up Next in Abbas Kiarostami’s Childhood Films
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Toothache
Directed by Abbas Kiarostami • 1980 • Iran
Though much of this film by Abbas Kiarostami is a straightforward lecture about dental hygiene delivered by a dentist facing the camera, it still manages to be persuasively Kiarostami-esque in its description of young Mohammad-Reza’s life at home and sc...
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Orderly or Disorderly
Directed by Abbas Kiarostami • 1981 • Iran
The first shot shows students descending a staircase in calm, orderly fashion, then the second details the same action as a chaotic rush. Separated by slates and director Abbas Kiarostami’s voice intoning, “Sound, camera,” subsequent sequences describe ...
