Iran’s only Oscar-nominated director Majid Majidi (
Children of Heaven) returns to form with
The Song of Sparrows. The deeply humanistic story, set among his society’s underprivileged, explores how capitalism and technology corrupt humankind, making us lose our hopes of spiritual purity as well as our all-important connections to family, friends and nature. Protagonist Karim (Reza Naji, winner of the Best Actor prize at the Berlin Film Festival), an ostrich wrangler at a ranch in a rural area west of Tehran, loses his job when one of his charges escapes. When he travels to the city to replace his eldest daughter’s broken hearing aid, he’s mistaken for a motorcycle taxi driver and begins to transport businessmen (all shouting into cellphones) and consumer products through the heavy traffic. The passengers and places he encounters start to transform his generous, honest nature, much to the distress of his wife. After Karim suffers an accident that leaves him unable to work, his sense of faith and purpose is ultimately restored.
As usual with Majidi’s work, lyrical camerawork (including some stunning aerial shots and spectacular scenes of the ostriches running through imposing open landscapes surrounded by mountains) and strong production design convey more character information than does dialogue. Grammy-nominated composer and musician Hossein Alizadeh, a master tar and sehtar player, provides the haunting score.
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