Desert Dancer

The ONLY reason I had any interest in watching this was because Nazanin Boniadi (Fara from "Homeland") was in this. According to IMDb, she had top billing. So I figured, sure, I'll watch it. After all, even if the movie isn't very good, Nazanin is hot, so that would make up for it to some extent. NOT EVEN CLOSE!!!! NB is only in one scene at the very beginning for about a minute. Yes! About a minute of screen time. Time it! Somehow IMDb believes she was going to get top billing for that. In the actual credits of the movie, she gets 4th billing. I don't know how she got such high billing for so little screen time.

The movie itself was a frickin' bore fest. Snooze fest. Call it whatever you want. It wasn't good. Watching paint dry would've been better, because at least you expect it to be boring if you watch paint dry, and nobody is saying Nazanin Boniadi is going to be staring in "watch paint dry." I know Iran has a very repressive regime, but couldn't they have made it about something more worthwhile? Nope. It had to be made about these people in the movie not being allowed to dance. I guess the sequel might be about them not being able to brush with Crest, or not be able to buy Hebrew National Hot Dogs. I don't know. All I can say is, if there's a sequel made, there won't be a sequel played in my computer.

I gave this a 2-star rating. One star for the one minute Nazanine Boniadi was actually in the movie. The other star is for the talent it took to bore the heck out of me. Believe it or not, that does count as a talent, but not one anyone in this film should be proud of.

If you like dance movies, this is for you.

It's comparable to the best true-story dance movies like 'Mao's Last Dancer', 'Dancing Across Borders', and so on. If you liked those movies, you will love this.

It's well cast, well acted, well danced, and very interesting and dramatic.

I loved it!

Highly recommended for dance-movie fans.

The lead character is especially well cast, and he dances marvelously, with passion and beauty and skill, while also being an excellent actor.

Omg. I'm Iranian and the horrible inaccuracies were so insulting and ridiculous I couldn't decide if I should laugh or get angry. First the setting, that place is so obviously not Iran. It looks more like an Arab country with all the palm trees, which only exist in the southern and northern regions of Iran since it's a 4 season country with all kinds of temperature. There are no palm trees in Tehran! Also Tehran is the Capital and quite a modern city with skyscapers and apartment buildings, a pretty advanced subway system and is famous for the luxurious cafes and restraunts and malls. So that decrepit ancient vibe they gave to the city is fankly laughable even for 2009. I mean, there are pictures in the internet right??? And if not there are plenty of Iranians to talk to before starting a project like this that would give the wrong impressions about the country to the whole world. I'm not even going to talk how they butched the image of University of Tehran. Nope. Second, dancing is not illegal in Iran. Not for boys atleast. There are plenty of male traditional dancing groups performing all over country and even modern break dance or hip hop dance groups performing in private weddings. Sure women aren't allowed to dance or perform in public, part of the bullshit sexist government hiding their dictatorship behind religion but these kinds of exaggeration doesn't help the situation of people of Iran. Also the underground club thing. Yeah, not happening. They would be caught before they could enter the place. Don't get me wrong there are plenty of parties in Iran witg drinking and dancing amd the whole thing but they would be in private property preferably out of town with the neighbors on board so the cops wouldn't be called. And how those supposed Basiji guys behaved is was so blown out of proportion that it was downright comic. And come on not everything is called Basij there are plenty of different organizations for this bullshit. I'm done with this review not because there isn't anything to add but because I'm done with typing.

This was a very well made film! After watching the movie, I learned a lot about Iran and their views on dancing.

Pretty intense!

The boy who played the role of Afshin Ghaffarian, the dancer, did an amazing job. Frieda Pinto also played a role in this movie, and was interesting to learn about her character. Everyone had their specific role in the movie, telling the story of what really happens there.

Its a very wild thought to think about what it would be like to live away from home, and the type of lifestyle some people see in the middle east, where this takes place.

If you like interesting stories that are true, you will love this movie!

Hands down one of the more interesting movies i have ever seen.

The content of this movie is soft and 1/100 of the sad reality of youth living in that godforsaken country. if the catch you laughing/dancing/singing they beat you & call you whores. While the real animals basiji and their whores, get paid to torture and kill young boys and girls. this is our reality for 37 years. I left and anyone who could left. If you stay, you become depressed, put in prison or drug addict. that is what the ayatollahs want. watch this film and feel lucky that most basic human rights like enjoying music is not taken away from you