Bashu, le petit étranger

Bashu is an amazing movie by any standard. I have watched Kiarostami, Makhmalbaf, Panahi, Majidi, but Beyzai supersedes them all inthis great film.

The story is nothing new and nor is it complex. But the way the director showed the complex undertones of complete stranger Bashus psychology was astounding.

My hats off to Beyzai: "YOU ARE THE MASTER"

Bashu is a moving film about a young Iranian boy who's family is killed during a bombing raid. Bashu escapes by stowing away in the back of a truck and ends up in a completely different part of Iran. He is adopted by Naii, a mother of two young children who's husband is away looking for work.

Bashu is nervous at first, especially as the townpeople are so hostile towards him, but Naii makes him welcome in a very touching and loving way. Naii is a very special person, combining gentleness and love with great strength. She has complete faith in Bashu and is rewarded in return with his smiles and happiness.

I loved the scene with the other young boys of the village in the crop to help the plants grow quicker. The drumming was a recurring subject, and is particularly powerful when Bashu is drumming when Naii is sick.

I thought the calling to the hawks showed a connection between Naii and Bashu but also added an earthiness and naturalness to both their characters.

This is a very moving film and I recommend to anyone.

I am in complete agreement with the other positive comments posted for this movie. The director certainly knows how to frame a striking visual image.

One additional comment needs to be shared. The version of this movie currently on video (Year 2004) is very sparsely subtitled. The second hour has much more dialog than the first, but after the first hour, the subtitles grow fewer and farther between.

Also, the subtitling does not indicate what languages or dialects are being spoken at any given time. Each line of dialog is (sometimes) translated into English for the viewer, but it is often not clear that the tongue being spoken is foreign to the other characters hearing it in the scene.

"Bashu" is special, important, soulful, educational, touching and not to be missed by anyone who even mildly likes film.

Aside from the cinematography acting as a medium and taking the viewer into the world of rural Iran, director Bahram Beizai uses supernatural touches to move the audience. Sussan Taslimi is tough and beautiful; the children in the film are delicious; the elders of the village are real, hateful, human.

Very little dialogue moves the story along, another feature that makes this film watchable. The piece is shot with trust and slowness that you can bathe in the surroundings without having to feel that you are on a mystery hunt. There is mystery of course and not all of it is explained. It certainly is not a Hollywood movie. It is not even a European movie. it is simply, A MUST SEE MOVIE.

A simple, human, quite touching Iranian film, about a 10 year old boy whose family is killed when the Persian Gulf is bombed by Iraq. Fleeing the war, he stows away on a truck and ends up in the verdant, peaceful north, where he struggles to fit in and start a new life. His adopted new small town is suspicious of outsiders, especially those with darker skin, and the boy speaks Arabic, whereas the locals speak a regional language. But he slowly finds his way, and finds love in a gentle, big hearted film about family, re-birth and hope.

It's amazing how many good films have come out of Iran over the last generation. It's really become one of the last bastions of thoughtful, humanistic drama.