Dastane Natamam

I recently saw this film at the Shanghai Film Festival. I really enjoy watching films, but the offerings from Hollywood and even many of the indie films of late have been dismal to say the least.

But "Story Undone" made the list.

It hits the bull's eye for editing/pace, stark-emotional scenery, interactive and varied cinematography, and of course an excellent controversial story. All done with almost no budget, and under the nose of a disapproving government.

Each of the characters are introduced only briefly and you have just enough exposure to them to draw you in, then the story picks up and moves on, much the same way as the refugees...running, hiding, resting...You can't help but get that movie-within-a-movie feeling at times with this one.

I don't like spoilers, and a good filmmaker's art cannot be retold in words, just go see it, support it, and help recognize the merits of this movie. It's great entertainment with a powerful message.

What impressed me about this movie is the sense that it conveyed of lots of smaller stories within the main tale of documenting the plight of people who have decided - for one reason or another to escape from their upbringing. From the classic Romeo and Juliet scenario of a young man and woman defying their parents directives to marry others in the village to a mother who is forced to kidnap her own child due to bureaucratic imposts.

The protagonists of the movie are the film/documentary makers themselves - little is conveyed of their personality/character, but they have a missionary zeal in endeavouring to complete their account of the multiplicity of stories they encounter.

The camera is considered all powerful in conveying these stories - and self-referencing also since it is a documentary which is being made in the process of making a film.

The film is about geography and the accident of birth in one geographic location determining so much about one's life. The journey made by the people is both physical and spiritual.

Set at the borders of Iran (with Turkey??), this movie "on the road" explores in an original way the world of illegal immigration: the very real dangers of trying to illegally cross a border, the "people smugglers" who profit from this, the reasons which are driving people to abandon their lives and their country (generally against their deepest desires), and even the "journalistic" coverage of this migration, embodied by the two main characters (a director and his cameraman). In some way, the movie manages to be funny and ironic (even auto-ironic) despite the very serious theme, which makes it enjoyable and thoughtful at the same time.

Acting is good, and there is some peculiar camera work: in particular, a continuous switching between scenes taken "from the inside" (by the camera of the main characters) and scenes taken "from the outside" (by a camera which is "outside" the story, like in most movies). The barren mountain landscape makes an interesting, sometimes nice background.