Willow and Wind (1999) User Reviews

Wind, willow, glass, boy.

[ItalianGerry · 9/10 · 29 May 2014]

"Willow and Wind" is an appealing little Iranian film about the painful adventure of a young boy laden with the task of replacing the broken window of his school classroom. It doesn't sound like much, but it is in fact very engrossing. The boy, played by Hadi Alipour, treks over the rural countryside to a glazier who makes the replacement-pane to the dimensions he specifies. The last half-hour of the movie is the best, showing the lad walking in the windy weather, across stream and dale, to bring the pane back to his school where he will attempt to install it. While the boy is en route, the viewer is on edge wondering whether the kid will break the glass or decapitate himself. Neither happens, en route, that is. The heartbreak occurs at the very end, through a bit of carelessness of the boy's own. This last segment is almost wordless, a kind of visual poem of epic struggle on a smallish scale, and it is truly marvelous. The first part of the movie, while good, does not have that same urgency. The scene with the boy and the glass-dealer, for example, goes on way too long. I was at a disadvantage in watching this film, since it was not subtitled in English. I first saw a Chinese-dubbed copy, then the original Farsi version and had a hard time understanding much of the narrative, though the overall plot situation is quite evident. In the final almost wordless half-hour it becomes rather easy to follow. The film, directed by Mohammad-Ali Talebi, was scripted by the great Abbas Kiarostami, whose other children-themed films are also splendid and beautiful. I think particularly of "Where is the Friend's House," with a difficult-quest-story that rather parallels the one in this movie. While probably intended primarily for young folks, this is a work that adults can also truly appreciate. If you can find it, watch it! It's a gem.

A strangely compelling film (even for westerners like myself) about a child's odyssey to maintain his status in the local school

[smbachrach · 9/10 · 30 May 2019]

The film was written by Iranian master auteur Abbas Kiarostami, and in many ways is a companion piece to Kiarostrami's "Where is the Friend's House". Both stories center around a young boy on a dangerous quest, and failure will potentially produce physical/social/emotional scars. While the film unfolds slowly, as the protagonist risks life and limb to satisfy the school's demands, and in the course of it has to travel a great distance, almost exclusively on foot, a patient viewer will be richly rewarded.

What is it with Iranian movies and children protagonists ?

[h_ytrm · 8/10 · 10 April 2021]

There are so may of them ! And almost every title ends with really valuable life lesson.

It also happens in Beed-o baad.

In first few minutes of the movie you get to know a little boy who comes from another part of the country. You'd think "oh yeah, this will be the main character of the movie", but no. He actually becomes a valuable friend of another boy - the child who has a detention because he broke the window in the class. His sad eyes and worry written on the face say more than countless words. For the rest of the movie we accompany him in an attempt to solve mentioned problem. Will he prevail or not ?

Film is shot really well. Scenario is plausible, you can imagine most of it happening in your own childhood (even more if you live in a small community or country).

Also Iranian cinema is known for filming nature. If you're aficionado of that theme, you won't regret watching Mohammad-Ali Talebis movie.

What's important is that it keeps viewer tense (in a good way). You're cheering for boy and good outcome of situation.

Masterpiece by Iran director Mohammad-Ali Talebi

[jowang · 10/10 · 25 February 2002]

A young school boy was ordered to walk a long way to purchase a piece of window glass larger than he could carry back to his school. The weather was bitter and the wind so strong that he almost failed on the road. He tried hard and finally moved the load back to the classroom where he was supposed to fix up a broken window. He was all alone and no one to turn for help. The glass blew crushed in pieces by the wind...

This is the best film I've seen in recent years. It gives helplessness and uncertainty a wider view, in isolated mountainy landscape. This one is a seamlessly made masterpiece by Iran director Mohammad-Ali Talebi. The child actor is very creditable.

ABBAS KIA ROSTAMI

[Mahdi_Khalil_Nejad · 10/10 · 19 September 2020]

KIA ROSTAMI was Lord of the Screenplay I'm not talking anymore. This one sentence is enough to make sure you watch this movie.

A young boy's quest to replace a broken window in rural Iran

[eric_vdberg · 6/10 · 25 March 2005]

I found this movie strangely compelling for such a simple plot. It reminded me of the Bhutanese film "The Cup", as well as the Iranian film "A Time for Drunken Horses". All of these films contain singular seemingly straight forward quests within a framework of largely tedious everyday life. I believe that my interest was held because they are studies on different cultures and ways of living. They allowed me to feel grateful to reside in North America, and to have myriad options in life. There is little extraneous content in these films, the life situation is set up, the quest is introduced, and some kind of conclusion is reached. Most of the characters seemed very genuine, as if they were being filmed by a hidden camera. I felt that the lead child actor did a passable job, however the constant sour expression on his face, that was probably meant to convey utter hopelessness, seemed quite out of place in a number of scenes, and I found this increasingly annoying as the film progressed.