Well, I watched this film at the Granada film festival. It is a first movie of the director, but it does not make you feel that way. It has its own beauty and charming elements in it.
The starring character is Golsa, around 16 years old Iranian girl that goes through a lot of different and tough experiences. She hangs out with a relatively rich group of people, throughout the movie the material difference is displayed openly. Her so-called friends have obviously better life conditions than her. One can say that she belongs to somewhere around low-middle class.
The breaking point in the film is that after robbing a grocery store, they forgot to take videotape and they have an argument about who should return and get it back. In that very scene, class differences and the real attitudes emerge from the surface. Amir, who is a sort of the leader of their little gang, is the one who insults her and makes her get the videotape. There one can observe two group of people. First, Golsa, the newest member the 'gang' and the rest. Since the others are rich 'important' kids, they all force her to be the one who must get that thing out of store. Eventually she does, however she does not give them the tape, she starts a sort of resistance against them, or she wants to test them, to see their real selves.
Throughout the story, she witnesses the importance and implications of money and the power relations behind it. Almost supernaturally she keeps resisting the will of others, including her family.
There is an analogy between Golsa and the dressage horse from the horse farm. Both are socially forced to isolated even punished to some extent. Golsa's mother gets everything away from her including her phone. She is not allowed to work in the horse farm, nor to take any allowances. Almost no one understands her, everyone seems to be so material. No one feels empathy towards them. As she is bound to her room, the horse bound to its farm.
This lack of emotions in the family makes one think of Haneke's films, the emotionally empty behaviors of the family members. The lack of intimate communication.
One of the most emotional and positive scene is the one where the horse and Golsa are reunited. The lens of camera is full of rainbow-line colors, the music is emotional, it represents the emotional peak of the movie.
Social injustice, class differences, lack of communication, the reckless behavior of the middle class and its consequences seem to shape central pillar of the movie.
Furthermore, one can interpret the film as a coming-of-an age story in which morally immature, curious, introverted Golsa learns the hard lessons of the life through very harsh experiences. The way it is filmed and told make the audience feel sympathy towards her.
The starring character is Golsa, around 16 years old Iranian girl that goes through a lot of different and tough experiences. She hangs out with a relatively rich group of people, throughout the movie the material difference is displayed openly. Her so-called friends have obviously better life conditions than her. One can say that she belongs to somewhere around low-middle class.
The breaking point in the film is that after robbing a grocery store, they forgot to take videotape and they have an argument about who should return and get it back. In that very scene, class differences and the real attitudes emerge from the surface. Amir, who is a sort of the leader of their little gang, is the one who insults her and makes her get the videotape. There one can observe two group of people. First, Golsa, the newest member the 'gang' and the rest. Since the others are rich 'important' kids, they all force her to be the one who must get that thing out of store. Eventually she does, however she does not give them the tape, she starts a sort of resistance against them, or she wants to test them, to see their real selves.
Throughout the story, she witnesses the importance and implications of money and the power relations behind it. Almost supernaturally she keeps resisting the will of others, including her family.
There is an analogy between Golsa and the dressage horse from the horse farm. Both are socially forced to isolated even punished to some extent. Golsa's mother gets everything away from her including her phone. She is not allowed to work in the horse farm, nor to take any allowances. Almost no one understands her, everyone seems to be so material. No one feels empathy towards them. As she is bound to her room, the horse bound to its farm.
This lack of emotions in the family makes one think of Haneke's films, the emotionally empty behaviors of the family members. The lack of intimate communication.
One of the most emotional and positive scene is the one where the horse and Golsa are reunited. The lens of camera is full of rainbow-line colors, the music is emotional, it represents the emotional peak of the movie.
Social injustice, class differences, lack of communication, the reckless behavior of the middle class and its consequences seem to shape central pillar of the movie.
Furthermore, one can interpret the film as a coming-of-an age story in which morally immature, curious, introverted Golsa learns the hard lessons of the life through very harsh experiences. The way it is filmed and told make the audience feel sympathy towards her.
