Blackboards (2000) ( Takhté siah ) ( Lavagne (Black boards) )

Blackboards (2000) (DVD) (*)

~~$25.99~~ $19.97

Original Title: Takhté siah
Alternate Title: Lavagne (Black boards)
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Cannes Film Festival
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
Turkish ( Dolby Digital 5.1 )

Product Origin/Format:
Australia ( PAL/Region 4 )

Running Time:
82 min

Aspect Ratio:
Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1)

Special Features:
Anamorphic Widescreen
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Trailer(s)

Movie filmed in 2000 and produced in:
Iran ( Africa, Middle East )
Italy ( Italy, Greece )
Japan ( India, Eastern Asia )

Directed By:
Samira Makhmalbaf

Written By:
Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Samira Makhmalbaf

Actors:
Said Mohamadi ..... Said
Behnaz Jafari ..... Halaleh
Bahman Ghobadi ..... Reeboir
Mohamad Karim Rahmati ..... Father
Rafat Moradi ..... Ribvar
Mayas Rostami ..... Young boy storyteller
Saman Akbari ..... Group leader
Ahmad Bahrami ..... Marriage registrar
Mohamad Moradi ..... Match maker
Karim Moradi ..... Old man
Hassan Mohamadi ..... Child
Rasool Mohamadi ..... The boy porter
Somaye Veisee ..... Little girl

Synopsis:

After the success of her award-winning debut, The Apple, Samira Makhmalbaf's second film brought the young director even greater acclaim. In the brutal mountains along 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 a shelter, as camouflage and as shields against 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, daughter of the famed Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, elicits strong 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.

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.

A group of teachers travel over the mountains of the Iraq-Iran border intent on teaching illiterate inhabitants of the region. The blackboards they carry on their backs have to be covered with mud to hide them from helicopters patrolling the skies above the mountains. The teachers decide to split up to avoid possible danger. One, Reeboir, tries to convince a group of adolescents that education is important, despite their indifference. Another, Said, comes across an old man who has a daughter and grandson. In an unusual wedding ceremony, Said marries the old man's daughter, with the blackboard used as a dowry.

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 05 February, 2013.

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