Zaman, l'homme des roseaux

'Zaman - The Man from the Reeds' splits my thoughts. On the one hand, there isn't really enough plot here for a full length (albeit of the shorter variety) film and as such it never truly gets out of second gear. On the other hand, it is undeniably touching and the ending is poignant.

Sami Kaftan's lead performance is pleasant, it's impossible not to care about his character and the family's predicament. None of the other actors get much time to shine, as you'd expect given the story, but Shada Salim does enough to stick out ever so slightly behind Kaftan.

This narrowly gets a pass from me. The heart that is present throughout manages to keep it just about watchable.

What attracted me to see this film was firstly the fact it came from Iraq as films from that part of the world in my country could only bee seen during the Sarajevo Film Festival – if even there. The unknown director form the unknown cinematography was challenging enough. 'Zaman…' is visually so stunning and emotionally so warm that it was it was surely worthy to give him a try. The story itself is basically simple and very sad – the main character's wife is seriously ill and needs an expensive medicine which is very difficult to find in the distant town. He leaves the reeds of his homeland to search for the medicine experiencing both humiliation and people's kindness during the long lasting journey. Even though the ending is predictably sad, there is some light at the conclusion in the comfort that Zaman gets from his adopted son. The most valuable parts of this film are tremendously beautiful photography and silently expressed feelings. Little, beautiful, touchy movie that reaches 7 out of 10.