THE SONG OF SPARROWS
Sometimes it's hard to enter into the worlds of others particularly when a culture so dictates the unequal treatment of women. I admit it, it's offputting and this was my initial experience of the opening of the Iranian film, Song of Sparrows where even a young girl of maybe 10 or 11 must cover herself up, away from the gaze of men. But then when you wander in, you find the complexFroity of the lives and the stories which is ultimately what makes a film like this one a million times more engaging than the average Hollywood product which is, itself, usually rife with one kind of egregious sexism or another.
At the center of this story is Karim, an ostrich farm worker who lives in the country with his wife and 3 young children. When an unruly ostrich escapes and despite his best efforts, which include dressing up in some sort of ostrich costume, Karim is unable to recover the bird, he is fired. Angered at his wife and childrens' efforts to earn money, Karim heads to the city where he finds he can make undreamed of amounts by giving people rides on the back of his small motorcycle. Soon he is coopted by the acquisitive ways of modernity and starts lugging home piles of junk -- from window sashes to metal tubs which becomes a mountainous heap which literally crushes him.
Director Majid Majidi's aim was to portray the way in which the trappings of modernity often wind up trapping us and if that sounds preachy the skill of the filmmaker makes it a lyrical observation rather than a polemical rant. First, the film is shot so exquisitely and since most of it takes place in the wide open spaces of it's rural location, it becomes more of a meditation than an instruction. At the same time, perhaps as a person of my place and time, I was sucked in and excited by Karim's entrepreneurial opportunity: one can actually make money giving rides on the back of one's motorcycle? Sign me up!
Yet in a film like this one is invited to examine that impulse as the observer. Once Karim is incapacitated his world is opened up in a new direction: he is forced to let his wife and children care for him. He adopts a somewhat different relationship to his community, to his neighbors and former co-workers.
From films as diverse as Chaplin's Modern Times to the hilariously banal The Jerk, film has examined the siren song of cities, with their industries that prey upon us either crushing us completely or turning us into greedy evildoers. Dickens documented this beautifully at the turn of the 19th century and it is true to a certain degree. On the other hand, the rural realities of the 21st century are not as charmingly romantic as the small town nostalgia traffickers would like us to believe as the agrarian way of life is not self-sustaining anymore.
At the end of this film, the wayward ostrich returns and presumably Karim will return to his old job. Yet he is clearly changed. Has he and we learned our lesson, how to balance the demands of the modern with the ability to step back and live simply and sustainably? This film leaves some room for you to come to your own conclusions, something I always greatly appreciate.
The Song of Sparrows is currently playing in theaters.
Directed and produced by Majid Majidi; written by Majid Majidi and Meharan Kashani; cinematography by Tooraj Mansoouri; music by Hossein Alizadeh and edited by Hassan Hassandoost. Released by Regent Releasing. Running time: 96 minutes in Farsi with English subtitles.
With: Reza Naji (Karim); Maryam Akbari (Narges); Kamran Dehgan (Abbas); Hamed Aghazi (Hussein); Shabnam Akhlaghi (Haniyeh); Neshat Nazari (Zahra).
