The Traveler (1974)
"Mossafer" (original title)

A grade-school-age boy, neglected by his parents, lies, cheats, and steals to accumulate enough money to afford a bus ride to a large city and a ticket to see his favorite soccer team play.

Director:

Abbas Kiarostami

Writer:

Abbas Kiarostami

Stars:

Hassan Darabi, Masud Zandbegleh

Cast

Credited cast:
Hassan Darabi	...	Qassem
Masud Zandbegleh

Storyline

A grade-school-age boy, neglected by his parents, lies, cheats, and steals to accumulate enough money to afford a bus ride to a large city and a ticket to see his favorite soccer team play.

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Plot Keywords:

bus | soccer | stadium | truancy | goalpost | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Iran

Language:

Persian

Release Date:

22 January 1992 (France)

Also Known As:

The Traveler

Filming Locations:

Tehran, Iran

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kanoon

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Followed by Safari be Diare Mosafer (1993)

User Reviews

Wonderful early film by Kiarostami

Kiarostami's first feature (made some 15 years before he became the darling of the film festival circuit) tells the story of a troublesome, amoral 10 year old boy (Hassan Darabi), living in a small town in Iran, who wishes to go to Tehran to see Iran's national football team play an important match. To achieve that, he steals money from friends and neighbors through a series of scams. After a number of adventures, he finally reaches Tehran stadium at the time of the match, but there, and without giving totally away the ending, he ends up getting some sort of comeuppance (as usual by Kiarostami, there is a great final shot). One of the remarkable things of the movie is how driven is the boy in reaching his objective, never thinking how what he is doing will affect other people, even those that are closer to him. Also fascinating is the film look at Iranian football culture during the 70s (which wasn't very different to football culture in other countries at the time). Kiarostami has a very fine hand in telling a story sensitively, and he avoids the pretentiousness he showed in later films, after he has been acclaimed by European critics.