" THE BIRD MAY DIE " is a decent movie with a powerful story which is lost in production . This film plays too long. While there is very much a human and personal story, full of cultural references and ideas which need their time, a running length of about two hours is still too much. There are long scenes which do not seem to fully serve the film as efficiently as they could. There are moments which could be edited out, and I do not think the story would be compromised at all. I also have to point out something about the acting , which communicates to the viewer that perhaps these are people new to acting. In scenes of emotional intensity (the opening, Sima's anger with Sara over the internet usage via 'a kiss'), one of the two people provides the intensity while the other seems overly passive, as if they have no reason to engage or be engaged by, the other person's flaring emotional state. The implication is that the cast lacks empathy for what's going with those around them, and that hampers the story of Sima's flight; the agreement with Shirin or Sanaiee; or Saeed's devotion. I also wonder what the intended age for Sara is, because the characterization comes across as someone who seems to me to be younger than the actor portraying her. Still, the strength of the film ends up being Sima, and I found myself liking her more and more as the film progressed. I wished the story began and ended with her, so that I felt is was much more her story, because I felt she should have been clear focus throughout. I think these concerns might be well addressed through some reconsidered editing, because the more I lost myself in Sima's story, the less the other issues were of concern to me. I gave eight stars, not for the movie but for Sima's character.