Les enfants de Belle Ville

What do you means about Beautiful City ? . This is one of the best film in the world.

I effectively know nothing of blood money newer than the dark ages, but most of it dates from earlier times still. This movie is set in the present, but at the same time is in the dark ages, and is really meant to face us with the price of life, especially in the prices for the death of a woman against of a man, rage, retaliation, revenge, price of forgiveness, and the whole charade of dealing with this under the Islamic law.

There's nothing much to enjoy here, but there is a lot to understand.

Nonetheless, there is a strong recommendation to see it, as is gifts a lot humanity, connecting it with the viewer at very basic levels.

I have recently seen all his movies(Asghar Farhadi), after he won the Oscar on 2011. this one is the best I believe. Although, much less people might prefer this one to "A separation" or "About Eli".

This one shows how difficult is to overcome the complex situations in our life. no matter how hard we try, or how sincere we are, there is always someone or something who will add to the heavy weight of sins(dark pieces, empty holes, or whatever you name it) we carry; resulting in THE yielding, and then us: watching hopelessly ourselves @ the very beginning.

This film shows the complicated relations in modern life very well. the weakness in the human beings, no matter how strong he seems to be. how the wind blows and destroys all the castles we made of love and tolerance.... how a single doubt could lead to complete failure.

I believe in this film the yielding happens when the uncle propose the disabled girl to "Ala" as an exchange for his friend's life. This was the critical moment when "Ala" failed to resist the tensions from the society and lost everything he'd gained including love & victory...

The slow, endless Iranian art films, so omnipresent in film festivals since the 80s, are by now, an either love it or hate it proposition. I now fall into the hate it category, jaded and bored by their sheer numbers, similarity of themes, characters, boring landscapes, and slow pace.

However, I do still see a couple every year to confirm, or review my perception of them. Besides, one can't judge all Iranian art films in a certain light, though the art form does tend to make the viewer take those extreme positions. So, I saw this film (called "Beautiful City")here - the name of the juvenile detention center the main character comes from. I found it entertaining and fresh, though the drab scenery and sameness of themes, landscapes, and characters are there.

It's an interesting (and again, entertaining, not endless like most) look at parts of Iranian society not often shown. These include delinquent youth, drug dealers and their hoods, the very negotiable (economically and religiously) Islamic death penalty, and prostitution on various levels.

I wonder whether films like this are shown in Iran? Of course, the masses would never run to see this movie. And obviously, all these Iranian films are intended for foreign (mostly western viewing), particularly at festivals. But I wonder whether anybody can just show up at a cinema and see it, or is it shown at semi-private showings for a select audience. If it is, how can this distorted Islamic government continue?

Anyway, that's the most interesting point of the film. It shows (whether true or not) that the government in Iran is not that Islamic, not that intolerant, somewhat democratic. But the society, under those black clothes, and automatic "God is great" messages, is as corrupt as the world's most corrupt, and more purely capitalistic than the social democratic capitalism we have today.

In the film, everything, from death sentences to pardons, from marriages to an opportunity for a life-saving medical operation, not to mention drugs and people, can be bought and sold with Tomans (Iranian cash).

Every single film by Asghar Farhadi has beautifully captured a different section of Iranian society & Beautiful City is no different. The title referring to a juvenile detention center, Beautiful City tells the tale of A'la, whose friend Akbar has just turned eighteen which means he will be executed soon for the crime he committed two years ago. Knowing that Akbar has repented enough in the two years, has a good heart & doesn't deserve this punishment, A'la gets out of that place and later, accompanied by Akbar's sister Firoozeh, tries his best in persuading the victim's father to spare the boy from certain death.

The movie also shows that no matter how restrictive a society is, money can buy everything, including life & death. As the movie progresses, we find out that the lives of these characters aren't as transparent as we assumed in the beginning and the story slowly becomes a gritty examination of moral & human complexities and no character is spared from making a life-altering choice.

Covering the themes of love, corruption, sacrifice, forgiveness and how the confinements of society & religion sometimes stops a person from going with what the heart desires, Beautiful City is another thought-provoking cinema from Farhadi with a universal appeal that, in the end, may leave you little lost but you'll come around eventually. Also, it was after this film that Farhadi started crafting one masterpiece after another, so if you've seen his later films before this one, like I did, I suggest that you don't have the expectations of Fireworks Wednesday, About Elly or A Separation from this film.