Itinerant Kurdish teachers, carrying blackboards on their backs, look for students in the hills and villages of Iran, near the Iraqi border during the Iran-Iraq war. Said falls in with a group of old men looking for their bombed-out village; he offers to guide them, and takes as his wife Halaleh, the clan's lone woman, a widow with a young son. Reeboir attaches himself to a dozen pre-teen boys weighed down by contraband they carry across the border; they're mules, always on t... (Full plot summary below)
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Itinerant Kurdish teachers, carrying blackboards on their backs, look for students in the hills and villages of Iran, near the Iraqi border during the Iran-Iraq war. Said falls in with a group of old men looking for their bombed-out village; he offers to guide them, and takes as his wife Halaleh, the clan's lone woman, a widow with a young son. Reeboir attaches himself to a dozen pre-teen boys weighed down by contraband they carry across the border; they're mules, always on the move. Said and Reeboir try to teach as their potential students keep walking. Danger is close; armed soldiers patrol the skies, the roads, and the border. Is there a role for a teacher? Is there hope?
Leave your thoughts about Blackboards.
| Boston GlobeWesley MorrisLike so much Iranian cinema, Blackboards is a work of lyrical propaganda. But its metaphors are opaque enough to avoid didacticism, and the film succeeds as an emotionally accessible, almost mystical work. |
| Milwaukee Journal SentinelDuane DudekA stark metaphor about diasporic people wandering aimlessly through rocky, desolate terrain, buffeted by unseen forces beyond their control. |
| Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumWhen 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. |
| San Francisco ChronicleCarla MeyerA heartening tale of small victories and enduring hope. |
| eye WEEKLYJason AndersonLike many Iranian filmmakers, Makhmalbaf prefers ambiguity to agitprop in her approach to politically contentious subject matter, but the results are still bracing and affecting. |
| The New RepublicStanley KauffmannLike many other Iranian films, Blackboards counters the generally broadcast ideas about this part of the world. It is a testament of quiet endurance, of common concern, of reconciled survival. |
| Village VoiceJ. HobermanBlackboards is both shrill and soporific, and because everything is repeated five or six times, it can seem tiresomely simpleminded. |
| Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenA lyrical if sluggish excursion set in war-torn Iranian Kurdistan. |
| Ozus' World Movie ReviewsDennis SchwartzIt's a stunning lyrical work of considerable force and truth. |
| Seattle TimesErik LundegaardReeboir 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. |
