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Stray Dogs

Original title: Sag-haye velgard
  • 20042004
  • 1h 33m
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
635
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • IMDbPro
Sag-haye velgard (2004)
  • Drama
The story of survival of 2 children in post-Taliban Afghanistan. Their mother has been imprisoned for "adultery" and their father is in Guantanamo Bay.The story of survival of 2 children in post-Taliban Afghanistan. Their mother has been imprisoned for "adultery" and their father is in Guantanamo Bay.The story of survival of 2 children in post-Taliban Afghanistan. Their mother has been imprisoned for "adultery" and their father is in Guantanamo Bay.
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
635
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Marzieh Makhmalbaf
  • Writer
    • Marzieh Makhmalbaf
  • Stars
    • Gol-Ghotai
    • Zahed
    • Agheleh Rezaie
Top credits
  • Director
    • Marzieh Makhmalbaf
  • Writer
    • Marzieh Makhmalbaf
  • Stars
    • Gol-Ghotai
    • Zahed
    • Agheleh Rezaie
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 6User reviews
    • 13Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 wins & 4 nominations

    Photos

    Marzieh Makhmalbaf in Sag-haye velgard (2004)
    Marzieh Makhmalbaf and Gol-Ghotai in Sag-haye velgard (2004)
    Marzieh Makhmalbaf in Sag-haye velgard (2004)
    Add photo

    Top cast

    Edit
    Gol-Ghotai
    • Gol-Ghotaias Gol-Ghotai
    Zahed
    • Zahedas Zahed
    Agheleh Rezaie
    • The motheras The mother
    Sohrab Akbari
    • Atef, the guardas Atef, the guard
    Jamil Ghanazideh
    • Angry guardianas Angry guardian
    Agheleh Shamsollah
    • Female cell guardianas Female cell guardian
    Razeddin Sayyar
    • Old crazy manas Old crazy man
    Maydeh Gol
    • Grand-motheras Grand-mother
    Ghomri Valad Amir
    • Woman in a burqaas Woman in a burqa
    Shah Mahmood Golbahari
    • Rose selleras Rose seller
    Emameddin Vakil
    • Cinema telleras Cinema teller
    Akhtar Abdolaziz
    • Cart driveras Cart driver
    Mohammad Sajjad Golrangi
    • Parhamas Parham
    Twiggy
    • Dogas Dog
    • Director
      • Marzieh Makhmalbaf
    • Writer
      • Marzieh Makhmalbaf
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit
    The story of survival of 2 children in post-Taliban Afghanistan. Their mother has been imprisoned for "adultery" and their father is in Guantanamo Bay.
    • homeless child
    • f rated
    • title directed by female
    • film within a film
    • cinema
    • 19 more
    • Plot summary
    • Add synopsis
    • Genre
      • Drama
    • Parents guide
      • Add content advisory

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Quotes

      [subtitled version]

      Gol-Ghotai: Zahed, did you tell dad what mother said? Did you tell him?

      Zahed: Yes.

      Gol-Ghotai: Did he feel sorry for us?

      Zahed: He said: "I went to fight in a Holy War. Your mother married again. Didn't she love me?"

      Gol-Ghotai: She married again because we were hungry. Now that man is dead.

      Zahed: Dad said that's good, and if mum dies, they can make love in Hell.

      Gol-Ghotai: What's Hell?

    • Connections
      Features Bicycle Thieves (1948)

    User reviews6

    Review
    Top review
    The dog was good
    Scruffy little homeless urchins plus fluffy little lost dog = cuteness overload.

    And yet by 20 minutes in i didn't feel engaged. The direction was too withdrawn, drama too withheld, the narrative lacking compulsion or even much purpose.

    I guess I'm getting more resistant to Iranian films like this with wide-eyed and innocent cute kids. I can see the manipulation involved: pick street urchins up on location; they aren't going to act because they can't act; but you can model them on how to look sympathetically photogenic. The method of delivering script is feed each kid the line they have to say just before the camera is pointed at them; then splice together these separate takes of dialogue in the edit afterwards. This avoids the kids having to act with one another or react in close ups; you just train each kid to hold still the reaction shot you want. But these close ups get to look too (com) posed, repeating the same static expressions; because the kids aren't interiorising the feelings they're meant to be experiencing: they mimic pretty – as in cute – facades of sad or angry, rather than enact or dramatise them from within.

    So mostly you get scenes in which the dialogue being spoken looks disconnected and sounds disengaged. Which may be why i felt similarly disconnected and disengaged.

    Anyway, the little dog does lots of little barking on cue – with about the same level of subtlety as these kids delivering their dialogue.

    I'm surprised how slight, even facile, i found this film considering how entranced I was by her (Marzieh Meshkini) first film The Day i Became a Woman.
    helpful•1
    2
    • thecatcanwait
    • Nov 16, 2011

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 15, 2005 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • Iran
      • France
      • Afghanistan
    • Language
      • Dari
    • Also known as
      • Saşkın köpekler
    • Filming locations
      • Kabul, Afghanistan
    • Production companies
      • Makhmalbaf Productions
      • Wild Bunch
      • Makhmalbaf Film House
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross worldwide
      • $45,110
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 33 minutes
    • Color
      • Color

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