Blackboards

Year: 2000

Grade: B-

Country: Iran

Director: Makhmalbaf

Review

my second iranian film this month. all of the films i’ve seen from iran/iraq thus far, have been relatively slowly paced films that are heavy in dialogue. all the acting was good. there was clearly something more to the film than i gleaned. the signs were there, i just didn’t put it all together, or maybe i lack the cultural knowledge to see what the filmmaker was trying to say. sure, there are obvious elements about the marginalization of certain groups or the invisible enemy or the importance (yet, at the same time, futility) of education. but i felt that there was something more to the film that i missed, something that i would understand if i were from the area. at any rate, overall it was a decent journey, but it didn’t have the humanity or poignancy of something like “taste of cherry.” .