Ragbar

I finally got around and watched the restored Criterion version of this famous Iranian movie, after reading about it almost in every movie magazine or reference to it in film articles during my entire life and it was extremely disappointing at best!

The jump-cuts, extreme close-ups and editing may looked avangard at the time, but upon recent viewing, they serve no purpose at all, as if you are watching a set of scenes awkwardly pieced together. The attempted humor and love story is as flat as a pancake on a Monday morning. Only the opening scene has some gravity to it and soon after the downfall begins.

The scene in which the teacher goes to the principal house to meet his daughter is the most ridiculous and idiotic on all levels with horrible acting, cheesiest dialogues (noise) and the most ambiguous directing I have ever seen. The side haracters like that fiancé of the girl and the drinking scene at the bar are just awful and cartoonish.

I have watched maybe 7000 movies in my life from almost all countries, and I really wanted to like this ''masterpiece'', but it turned out just worthless. Seriously, I feel embarrassed that this garbage has got all the recognition in Iranian Cinema in a time that movies like Straw Digs were on screens worldwide. But I'm sure some beardy artsy looking dude with glasses might come attacking my review screaming that I didn't ''Understand'' it. OK Boomer. You win.

I should call this movie a romantic movie, a romance between two people with nice people around them. We have no Romeo And Juliette in this film. Everyone is nice, all the people of the city are happy, there is only a tragedy and its competitive love. The children made this film like a children movie and let me tell you that school is such a important feature for representing the lovers and their romance. Parviz Fannizadeh is my favorite Iranian actor and he played his role nicely attractive. He won the best leading role of the year from the main film festival of Iran before the Islamic Revolution, Sepas Film Festival. The film is Bahrain Beyzayi's second cinematic experience and it was really good and critically acclaimed, even tho it wasn't a successful commercially. It has so many scenes that I didn't like and I prefer to remove from the script but it's Beyzayi and his special scenarios. Even tho I think that it was a good film generally... .

As the movie begins, Mr Hekmati is clumsily completing the move of his personal belongings (which include absurdly large family photos) to his new modest quarters. He is a schoolteacher and has been assigned to the local school. He looks like an intellectual out of a Godard movie including thick frame carey glasses. He sticks out in the town like a sore thumb and arouses the curiosity of his new neighbors.

For the rest of the movie we are witnesses to his uneasy interaction with his neighbors and with the principal and colleagues at school. They (as Mr Hekmati) are not sure about the reasons for his transfer. His students are unruly at the beginning but mutual confidence develops after a while. He becomes involved with Atieh, the sister of one of his pupils. Atieh struggles to care for her old and ailing mother and insure an education for her brother. To complicate things, she suffers the attentions of a local tough, a big man in town.

This is one of the movies that started the torrent that made Iran a powerhouse of world cinema. However, it has little to do with the subjects and feelings in the works of later directors like Kiarostami, Panahi or Makhmalbaf. Downpour evokes various genres such as American romantic comedies (with a touch of screwball), Italian neorealist movies but especially the quirky output of the Czechoslovak New Wave.

This work had a troubled history. The negative and all copies were seized in 1979 by state authorities and never heard of again, probably destroyed or lost in some obscure archive. Fortunately, the director kept a positive and the copy we stream is an excellent restoration by the World Cinema Project of Martin Scorses's The Film Foundation.

It is difficult to find fault with this film. Script (by the director) is witty and acting and cinematography are excellent . Perhaps the subject matter is not enough to justify a length of more than two hours.

"Ragbar" is a stellar achievement, especially given it's early place in Iranian cinema. It is a story of a teacher who comes to a new town and falls in love with a girl who is to be wed to a wealthy butcher. The plot is well paced and the storytelling is brilliant. Not only is it touching and funny at the same time, but it is made with a remarkable amount of cinematic wit. If you can get a hold of it, it is a must see.

At a time when typical filmfarsi (the movie made before iran revolution) were in the same time and time as their counterparts, the construction and revival of a new thinking in this field seemed risky and even deadly. Especially when demanded, it would have been more productive from the angle of the suppliers, and more investment than before. This routine and this demand seems obviously logical, but there were directors who wanted to be frantic and depending on the type of ambition, power and faith in the work, in this way, they presented works that some of them had to do with the finer works in this Backgrounds turned out. Risk-taking power and the ability to master individual abilities in this way were, in their time, a big risk, which is such a worthwhile gift. At that time, 1972 films were made that did not look like other films from a style. In all the films of that era, the audience's desire was a happy ending, but it was not the case in this film, and it was argued that one could, without regard to the instinctive appearances of the audience, follow the fact that it was not necessary to make what was meant by others Is. It is possible to have an opinion in this field and make the story with a firm determination and what was just what the director and storyteller was about to construct and exploit. The Downpour of the first feature film by Bahram Beyzaie is a striking example of the new wave of Iranian cinema, which independently, regardless of its prevailing rule of time, is the end of a happy journey, and it seems successful in this regard and in this respect. Now that the film is an age 45 years old , its continues to be in the field of the New Wave in this time, and has signed the big Bahram Beyzaei signature and is one of his honors. Of course, this movie was subject to destruction, which was restored and remained by the Scorsese Foundation.