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Blackboards [2000]
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Theatrical Trailer Many Iranian films address social issues, but some directors all too readily press the obvious emotional buttons. "Blackboards" does not do this and is a harder nut to crack, but it repays repeated viewings with deeper appreciation. As such I believe it successfully "universalizes the particular", and is likely to retain its significance when other films have dropped by the wayside. Also included is (younger brother) Maysan Makhmalbaf's 73 minute documentary "How Samira made 'The Blackboard'". This is an important document in its own right, and covers far more than your standard "Making of.." featurette. As one example among many, there is an extended discussion of Samira's debut film "The Apple" including current interviews with the two children of that film. Samira's acceptance speech at Cannes, in which she highlights the push for reform and democracy in her country, resonates all the more strongly now in light of events of the intervening few years. Essential viewing. The R2 version has a film aspect ratio of 1.66:1 but is a non-anamorphic transfer, and I have trouble with disappearing subtitles when the image is zoomed to full width on a widescreen TV (16:9/1.78:1). A 14:9 (1.56:1) setting is optimal with small black bars on all sides. The R1 has the same film aspect ratio, but is an anamorphic transfer, thus avoiding this problem. However, the film fills the TV frame, suggesting some cropping. Take your choice!
RRP: £19.99
Our Price: £13.99 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Blackboards is an unusual film. First, it's from Iran; second it's directed by a woman, Samira Makhmalbaf; third, she's only 22. Set near the border with Iraq, the film follows a group of itinerant teachers who wander the countryside looking for students, carrying their blackboards with them. At various points a blackboard comes in useful as cover from gunfire, as a stretcher, and, chopped up, as a splint. Though the film is full of social observation, it functions mainly as allegory. Despite the eagerness of the wandering teachers to impart knowledge, their efforts are largely in vain, and though the film has moments of humour its tone is ultimately rather pessimistic. The director is the daughter of Mohsen Makhmalbaf, himself a noted Iranian director who wrote Samira's earlier film The Apple, a deceptively simple story of two girls who are kept for years in seclusion before social workers order their release. Blackboards is a more elusive film and won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it's thought provoking, often moving and full of insights into an unfamiliar world. --Edward Buscombe
Editorial
DVD Description
DVD Special Features:
"Making Of" Documentary
Production Notes
Kurdish with English Subtitles
Dolby Digital 2.0
Editorial
Synopsis
Hauling blackboards on their backs, two educators venture into the desolate mountainous terrain of Iranian Kurdistan to promote literacy. Going separate ways, the teachers find themselves latching on to respective groups journeying to the Iraqi border. Reeboir (Bahman Ghobadi) joins a group of children acting as 'mules' smuggling contraband into Iraq. Said (Said Mohamadi) meets with a group of elderly Iraqi Kurds who intend to return to their homeland. One of the old men wishes to see his daughter married before he dies and Said, with only his blackboard as a dowry, obliges. The instructors attempt to teach an uninterested populace as their precarious trips lead to the armed border. Samira Makhmalbaf became the youngest recipient of the Grand Jury Prize in the history of the Cannes Film Festival when she earned the award for this, her sophomore effort, at the age of 20. Co-scripted with her father Mohsen Makhmalbaf, one of the world's most respected filmmakers, BLACKBOARDS combines pathos with an unusual sense of humour. The young filmmaker displays a commanding sense of the medium working primarily with non-actors and creating an intense military threat without showing a single gun or soldier.
Editorial
From the Back Cover
After the success of her award winning debut "The Apple", Samira Makhmalbaf's second film has brought the 20 year old director even greater acclaim. In the brutal mountains of the Iran/Iraq border, two nomadic teachers, Reeboir and Said, roam the landscape in search of pupils. They carry their blackboards on their backs, sometimes using them as shelter, camouflage and as shields from gunfire. Reeboir encounters a group of young border smugglers for whom education has little meaning, whilst Said becomes involved with some old men seeking a safe route back over the border to Iraq. Makhmalbaf, the youngest filmmaker to have won the Prix du Jury at Cannes, elicits storng performances from a largely non-professional cast and creates a visually powerful and insightful depiction of a people on the edge of a country and a society.
An extraordinary achievement
Review date: 2004-09-15 Rating: 10 out of 10
Mohsen Makhmalbaf is one the pillars of post-revolution Iranian film-making, but his daughter Samira may well be as important for the next generation. "Blackboards" is Samira's remarkable sophomore film, made at the age of 19, and winner of the Jury prize at Cannes. It is an uncompromising study of the madness of war, expressed through the futile attempts of itinerant teachers desperately looking for students amongst people whose priorities are more geared to raw survival. What exactly do you say to a group of traumatized villagers whose only wish is to return home, when home is the gassed town of Hallabja? What do you say to children whose only means of survival in a war zone is to smuggle goods across the Iran/Iraq border, at the risk at any time of being shot or stepping on mines?
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Reviews
Boring, boring, boring
Review date: 2004-07-12 Rating: 4 out of 10
What a disappointment. I had this film on my wishlist for about two years, but felt it too expensive and was waiting for some offer to come along. Tonight it was shown on TV and I sat down, eager to see something different from the Hollywood mostly industrial rubbish. I like watching films from other cultures than the anglo-western, listening to other languages than english and feeling that the world is not so one-sided and narrow as one tends to believe watching standard western TV. I also wanted to learn about the life of the Kurdish peolpe and the terrible treatment they have suffered from brutal authorities. But this was nothing of what I expected. I maybe ignorant but nobody can assure me that this people with their ancient and respectable culture are anything like this. The interacting between most of them were like they were retarded and they, especially the teachers, kept on harrassing other people (in adressing). The persons were all so shallow and you could never feel any compassion even though the circumstances were horrible. I sat through the film waiting for it to get better, waiting for it to tell me something- to feel something for the persons, and in the end - waiting for it to end! I would have given it 0 stars but for the filming one star and most of all, another star for the acting. The acting was maybe what made me endure. The actors were 1st class and taking in account their roles and dialogues -Superb. If they are not professionals then they are born actors. Allegory? Heck! After watching the film I went straight to my computer and erased it from the wishlist.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Mohamad Karim Rahmati
Said Mohamadi
Bahman Ghobadi
Rafat Moradi
Behnaz Jafari
Creators:
Said Mohamadi (Primary Contributor)
Behnaz Jafari (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: Artificial Eye
Manufacturer: Artificial Eye
EAN: 5021866198309
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2001-07-30
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Running time: 82 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2000
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)