Featured film: "Where Is My Friend's Home" (1987)
Personal Rating: 8.8
Childhood is always portrayed as a "carefree" and "free and happy" existence. Whether this is actually the case can only be known by going back to childhood and asking yourself.
This is the movie I've seen since "Little Shoes" that makes me feel the tremors of my soul the most. The Place is My Friend's Home" is the first feature-length feature of the famous Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, which was produced in 1987.
Like "Little Shoes", this film tells the world of children from the perspective of children, a world dedicated to childhood, which not only brings out the social landscape of Iran, but also this childhood experience can recall everyone's childhood memories: Childhood is by no means carefree and often one full of worries and thoughts.
The cruelty of childhood largely stems from the unequal power positions between adults and children. Because of this strong asymmetry, adults' distrust and neglect of children will bring enormous oppression and harm to children.
The story begins with the teacher's questioning of Nemazadi in the classroom, because he did the homework on paper for the third time instead of the workbook. Facing the teacher's reprimand, Nemazadi was so helpless and sad. He just lowered his head and cried, unable to explain the reason at all. (And he obviously has a reasonable reason.) The teacher in the reprimand finally asked him why. Nemazadi said that he had left the workbook at his cousin's house. After careful questioning, the teacher was obviously not satisfied with this explanation. He wanted to Then, when a student entered the classroom, he took out Nemazadi's workbook. Only then did the teacher realize that he was Nemazadi's cousin. The teacher still didn't let Nemazadi go, and threatened to drop him one more time. Maybe adults can think of "what if I do my homework on paper, I can't do it, I don't believe the school can fire me for this reason", but eight-year-old children can't make this judgment at all, they only know Doing homework on paper can be reprimanded by the teacher and even expelled from school, so this can be a catastrophic blow for a child.
The film presents "adults' subconscious distrust and neglect of children" in front of the audience delicately. When the little protagonist Ahmed finds that he has accidentally brought home the workbook of Mazadi, who is at the same table, he knows the seriousness of the matter. He felt very anxious, but when he applied to his mother to return the homework book, the mother just repeated again and again, "do your homework before you can go out to play." She determined that the son just wanted to go out to play, and that the son The "returning the homework book" was a lie, and he didn't listen to his son's pleas at all. When Ahmed wanted to finish his homework and send the workbook, he was forced to do this and that again and again, the child's needs and anxieties were completely ignored, and adults tended to think that only the things of the adult world were important They think that things in the world of children are trivial, and the stress and anxiety that children face are often ignored by their self-righteousness.
On his way to get up the courage to sneak out of his home to find Nemazadi, Ahmed had to repeat his questions over and over to get answers, and those answers were always impatient "I don't know." His grandfather even deliberately sent him to fetch non-existent cigarettes, delaying his time, just to "educate him to be an obedient" person. Grandpa talked about his father's education in small talk, he said: "My father gave me a penny a week and beat me once every two weeks. Sometimes he forgot to give me money, but he never forgot to beat me. It's this kind of education that made me a strong person." The person next to him asked, "Do you want to hit you if you didn't do anything wrong?" He said, "Yes, if you didn't do anything wrong, find a reason to hit you, in order to make me a man. An obedient person." He highly praised this unreasonable education method. He inherited his father's educational concept and cultivated an "obedient" person by beating and teaching him. The purpose of education is not to cultivate an "independent, rational, upright, happy person", but an "obedient" person, and it cannot be said that this is not a great sadness.
Ahmed was helpless when faced with adults, his pleas were ignored, his inquiries were ignored, his refusals were ignored. When Ahmed heard Nemazadi's name overheard, he asked over and over again, "Are you Mr. Nemazadi?" However, adults ignored his existence at all and carried out conversations between adults on their own. , and then rode away on a donkey. Ahmed ran wildly over the mountains to chase the man's house, and finally met a child. Although he was disappointed to find that he was not the one he was looking for, it was the first time someone asked him in detail about the Mohammad Neemaza he was looking for. Did Dee have a car or sheep at home, trying to help him show the way. The effective communication in the film can only be achieved between the pair of children.
After Amud's run, search, and disappointment again and again, the day is almost over. He can only return in the dark without success. When he gets home, he refuses to eat and sits by the wall and weeps. We don't know if he has After being beaten by his parents and grandfather, when he started to do his homework, he finally thought of a way to help his friend - help him write a homework. Finally, Ahmed arrived in time to rescue his friend in class the next day. The teacher opened the homework and said, "Nemazadi, this time is very good, very good." The camera stopped at the opened workbook Above, there is a small white flower that Ahmud has sandwiched in, and the film stops abruptly. Like "Little Shoes", it still gives the audience a warm ending, even if it is bitter warmth. The friendship, sincerity, and kindness of two eight-year-olds spilling out of such a simple plotline has a soul-stirring power.
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