Search - Bashu, the Little Stranger on DVD

A child's displacement opens a window into ethnic diversity

Elish | NY | 01/11/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The story of a little boy from southern Iran whose parents are killed in the Iran-Iraq war, and who eventually ends up in the north where people are ethnically and linguistically different from the area he comes from. The film deals with the ethnic differences inside Iran, racism, and prejudice, as the woman who takes the boy in confronts the hostility of her husband and other villagers. It has the universal theme of how we confront those who are different from us, but in a totally unfamiliar setting which is fascinating in itself. Iran is a multicultural nation with a variety of geographies, languages, and cultures little known to the outside world, and this movie provides a touching glimpse inside as well as sharp social criticism by the director."

Peculiar and sweet

echoes of empires | San Francisco, CA USA | 08/27/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Bashu is an odd and delightful little movie which, outwardly, seems very simple. A little boy (Bashu) escapes his war-ravaged village by hiding in the back of a truck that's travelling the countryside(his family all killed), and he ends up in a rural part of the country where the customs and language are totally different from his own. He eventually runs into a woman with two young children whose husband is away working for an extended period. The gem of this story is how they develop a relationship, and her peculiar and amazing personality in particular. The villagers eventually learn of Bashu and are very rejecting, for many reasons, and she strongly comes to his defense. The scenes with them definitely made me think of Fellini's way with odd personalities, and there were moments of mild magical realism through the story. While the screen quality is fairly scratchy, it's a wonderful movie and well worth watching.


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