The White Balloon

viewed December 23, 1999 on video

For full information about this film, click here

My introduction to the much heralded Iranian cinema is this innocuous-seeming story of a little girl who wants to buy a goldfish for her New Year's present.  Hidden within this story is a treasure trove of subtexts for those who are seeking to break through Western media stereotypes and learn a few things about modern Iranian society.   

A masterfully spare plot contains all of its actions along a few street blocks connecting the girl's house to the fish store.  The naive girl whines at her mother to give her 200 rial (or is it dinars?) to buy a special, bubble-eyed goldfish.  From her behavior, as well as selective shots of the girl's house and even the sound of her father taking a shower in a not-so isolated stall, you get a sense of the social conditions in the Iranian city, which aren't bad, though a goldfish can be considered a minor luxury item.  

The camera films these and every scene in such a way as to capture a bustling, vibrant Tehran, where swarms of people walk the streets and human cruelty alternates with kindness.  The girl loses her mother's money twice in the film, and no less than seven people are involved in helping her retrieve it.  Each person is distinct and reflects the diversity of people in Tehran, and the fragmentation of society that results.  There is her brother (trustworthy family); a snake charmer (street swindler); an old lady (representing middle class values); two storekeepers (kind but suspicious and protective of their business); a soldier (a bizarre figure who may or may not be a disturbing commentary on the military); and an immigrant boy who saves the day and in return is left unrecognized.  

Through these people's actions, the question of kindness towards others is repeatedly asked, making this film a powerful lesson in civics.  Although you couldn't tell otherwise, the girl's behavior towards others clearly conveys an upper middle-class haughtiness and naivete towards the sordid lives of the less privileged.  Thus the suspenseful charm of the film lies not in whether or not she retrieves her money and gets her fish but in whether her worldview will expand beyond her own self-centered desires.  In a way the movie asks us, why should anyone help this innocent but selfish and privileged girl?  She is not perfect, perhaps not even pure, but the movie somehow puts the moral fabric of an entire nation at stake in her quest to find that damned piece of money.  Consider this an excellent introduction to the sublime pleasures of a burgeoning new center for world cinema.

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