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The Circle
We hear (but do not see - a most effective directorial choice, but then
again, a realistic depiction would be impossible under the radical Islamic
film Production Code) a woman in agonized labor and finally delivery. There
follows a flurry of confused activity, a mounting sense of concern. "What's
wrong?" someone asks and the answer is like a punch in the stomach: "It's a
girl." Director Jafar Panahi (The White Balloon) continues to display
the stylistic imprint of his teacher, revered Iranian auteur, Abbas
Kiarostami, with this naturalistic and relentlessly linear narrative, yet
manages to slowly coils the story around us and take away our breath. The
place and role of women in Iranian society is the subject that passes from
one protagonist to another like the baton in a terrible relay. Too much
information beforehand will dampen an effect that better unfolds in what has
been described as an "elliptical" fashion: this is a film to come into blind,
and leave with your eyes forever opened. Banned at home, The Circle
was Best Film at the 2000 Venice Film Festival.
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