Blackboards (2002)

74% of critics liked it
(34 reviews)
67% of users liked it
(1,136 ratings)

Samira Makmalbaf makes her sophomore feature outing with this bold, elliptical look at the plight of marginalized populations in modern Iran. The film opens with a group of Kurdish teachers lugging blackboards on their backs in the rocky hinterland looking for illiterates to educate. The group… More Samira Makmalbaf makes her sophomore feature outing with this bold, elliptical look at the plight of marginalized populations in modern Iran. The film opens with a group of Kurdish teachers lugging blackboards on their backs in the rocky hinterland looking for illiterates to educate. The group splits up in a panic when they are suddenly confronted by a helicopter border patrol. Two pedagogues, Reeboir (Bahman Ghobadi) and Said (Said Mohamadi), camouflage their chalkboards with mud and take separate paths. Reeboir runs into a bevy of semi-feral adolescent boys who look haggard beyond their years; they spent their entire lives hauling (smuggled) goods through harrowing mountain passes. Reeboir tries to convince the lads that they should learn to read, but he is firmly rebuffed. Meanwhile, Said stumbles upon a wizened old man with a urinary problem and an attractive widowed daughter. Said eventually marries the woman, using his blackboard as dowry. Makmalbaf manages to imbue the film with a mood of fear and loss, making the characters' indomitable spirit all the more moving. This film was screened in competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 25 min.
Directed By: Samira Makhmalbaf
Written By: Samira Makhmalbaf, Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Dec 6, 2002 Limited
On DVD: Feb 17, 2004
Studio: Leisure Time

Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
When I first saw Blackboards three years ago I was surprised as well as puzzled that in some ways it reminded me of John Ford's 1950 western Wagon Master.
Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle
A heartening tale of small victories and enduring hope.
Peter Howell, Toronto Star
There's no denying the strength of these simple images, and the bleak message of learning to sort out your real priorities in times of strife.
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail
A selection of scenes in search of a movie.
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
Its metaphors are opaque enough to avoid didacticism, and the film succeeds as an emotionally accessible, almost mystical work.
Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic
It is a testament of quiet endurance, of common concern, of reconciled survival.
Michael W. Phillips, Jr., Goatdog's Movies
The entire film is saved by its periphery, where Makhamalbaf stops trying to teach us a lesson.
James Plath, Movie Metropolis
life for these people is so hard that the mere depiction of a single day provides enough drama to where a grand and complex plot seems all but unnecessary
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
It's a stunning lyrical work of considerable force and truth.
Moira Sullivan, Movie Magazine International
...a poignant and powerful narrative that reveals that reading writing and arithmetic are not the only subjects to learn in life.
Duane Dudek, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A stark metaphor about diasporic people wandering aimlessly through rocky, desolate terrain, buffeted by unseen forces beyond their control.
John A. Nesbit, Old School Reviews
does paint some memorable images ..., but Makhmalbaf keeps her distance from the characters
Erik Lundegaard, Seattle Times
Reeboir varies between a sweet smile and an angry bark, while Said attempts to wear down possible pupils through repetition. It has no affect on the Kurds, but it wore me down.
Sean Axmaker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The stripped-down dramatic constructs, austere imagery and abstract characters are equal parts poetry and politics, obvious at times but evocative and heartfelt.
Harry Guerin, RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)
People cinema at its finest.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
That is essentially what's missing from Blackboards -- the sense of something bigger, some ultimate point.
Jason Anderson, eye WEEKLY
Like many Iranian filmmakers, Makhmalbaf prefers ambiguity to agitprop in her approach to politically contentious subject matter, but the results are still bracing and affecting.

Read all 17 critic reviews

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