Bashu, gharibeye koochak (1989)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Bahram Beizai

Writer:

Bahram Beizai (writer)

Release Date:

3 April 1991 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

During the Iran-Iraq War, Bashu, a young boy loses his house and all his family. Scared, he sneaks into a truck that is leaving the area...

Cast

Susan Taslimi	...	Naii
Parvis Pourhosseini	...	Naii's husband
Adnan Afravian	...	Bashu
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Akbar Doodkar
Farokhlagha Hushmand

Also Known As:

Bashu, the Little Stranger

Runtime:

120 min | Argentina:121 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

Iran

Language:

Persian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Sweden:7 | Argentina:13

Company:

The Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children & Young Adults

Touching, well-made film

Bashu is a movie with a bit of everything: drama, tragedy, humour, all with a touch of surrealism. The film opens tremendously with the bombing of a town in Iran. A young boy comes running out of the smoke and begins a long journey alone, away from his home and family, now wiped out. He falls asleep in the back of a truck hauling dynamite and ends up in a part of Iran where no one speaks his language. He is more alone than ever until he is adopted by Naii, a villager living alone with her two children while her husband searches for work. Sussan Taslimi is astounding as the strikingly beautiful Naii. At first I was startled by the harshness of her gaze but it softens as she learns to love Bashu as her own child. Her love for Bashu, despite the forbiddings of the villagers and her own husband, raises this film above the ordinary.