Far From Home (1975) is Shahid Saless' first film in Germany, where he made the rest of his films. Film's main subject is nostalgia. It's the story of some Turkish immigrants sharing an apartment together in Germany. The movie is full of long takes and long shots (reminiscing of Tarkovsky's movies), the camera often gets into position before the characters get there and It's always static (much like Ozu's camera). There are few dialogues, not only because they because the Turks in the film can't speak German, but there seems to be not much to talk about with themselves. The color pallet is again, like Still Life (1974), very limited but this time it consists of warm colors like orange, pink and a brownish hue which gives the picture a sepia-like quality which is furthermore reinforced with a wired orange light in interior in interior shots. Maybe Shahid Saless wasn't officially acknowledged as a German New Wave director, but one can argue that he was indeed one. He has made most of his films in Germany and in Germany and at the same time that directors like Fassbinder and Schlöndorff were at their peak and his film share certain aesthetic and thematic traits with their movies. For instance colors, camera, the racism theme and the immigrant protagonist in this film reminds of Fassbinder's Ali: Fear Eats Soul (1974), one of the best films of the German New Wave. Simple actions of the protagonist, Hussein are shown several times in the movie: working in the factory, getting on the train, walking home in the street, seeing his old neighbor on the stairs. Shown every time with the same camera angles and distances, they become motifs and they show how repetitive aimless and boring Hussein's life is. His roommates aren't any better either; some are always playing backgammon, a young boy who seems to be having the hardest time is constantly moaning in his bed and another is always asking others for money to "take a girl out" and Hussein is the only one who lends him money; maybe because he wants to somehow participate in the young guy's date, something he can't get himself. He desperately wants a woman; he has an embarrassing conversation with a married woman in a park. When a young guy in their house wants to teach him some German, he wants to know to how to ask a woman out but in the end he can't. When the young guy brings her German girlfriend to the house, there is an uncomfortable atmosphere in the room; the men are eating the girl with their looks. Shahid Saless points out the cultural differences between immigrants from the third world countries with a country like Germany. While the only woman living in the house always wears a scarf, the men can't keep their eyes from a woman who doesn't. But the immigrants are not the only ones who are lonely. Their neighbor, an old German lady, once invites Hussein to her house for tea and we realize that although she is in her country, being away from her son who is in US makes her is as if she is Far From Home too. In the final scene we see him still working with the same machines in the factory. The cycle goes on but for the first time, we see him from a new camera position; we are seeing him from behind. We don't see his face, his silly smile which he always had anymore.
Parviz Sayyad- a prominent Iranian comedian, director and producer- is the producer and the lead actor in this movie. His completely different roll and performance can be very surprising for those who have seen his other movies and performances.
Parviz Sayyad- a prominent Iranian comedian, director and producer- is the producer and the lead actor in this movie. His completely different roll and performance can be very surprising for those who have seen his other movies and performances.
