When making this film Abbas Kiarostami was already considered one of the most brilliant filmmakers within the international film context at the end of the century. He had produced one of his major and most recognized works,
Through the Olive Trees (1994), which finished catapulting him to the world stardom, and it closed his famous trilogy known as the
Trilogy of the earthquake, where he explored and paid tribute to his native Iran and the aftermath of the quake. After that exercise, he made a film segment and a documentary before his next film, the work at hand now. We are facing one of the most memorable works of oriental filmmaker, which is separated from some guidelines of that triad of pictures, to develop some novelties in his art. Kiarostami narrates us in his film the story of a middle-aged man, who reached the point of its existence where has decided to take his life, and for that he must find someone to bury him when he has achieved its purpose, in exchange for much money. In his search the individual will find three different leads, a young soldier, a seminarian, and finally a taxidermist; all three will have different reactions to the request, but the third one will be who have greater influence. A remarkable, beautiful feature, and a great example of the kind of films that makes the director, that continues to consolidate its author as one of the most interesting artists in the panorama of cinema of today.
Tape starts with a character, a man who calls himself Mr. Badii (Homayoun Ershadi), driving a vehicle through Iranian arid lands, without much apparent reason. On his way he meets an individual who collects plastic bags to sell; then picks up a young soldier of Kurdistan (Safar Ali Moradi). After a brief conversation, Mr. Badii says he has decided to commit suicide, and once made his act, needs someone to bury him. After taking him to the grave he has already dug, he offers the young fellow a lot of money in return, but the soldier escapes finally frightened by the proposal. Mr. Badii does not desist in his purpose, and the next character is a seminarian (Mir Hossein Noori), makes him the same request and offers the same reward, but the religious man expresses his opinion of the sinfulness he considers suicide, and refuses as well to help him. Finally Badii finds a third man, a mature taxidermist, Mr. Bagheri (Abdolrahman Bagheri), who will hear the same request, and talks about a personal experience, when he attempted suicide by strangling. The tree where he was to hang himself, was a cherry tree, he ended up tasting the fruit, enjoying and taking some to his wife at home; cherries saved his life. Urges him not to suicide, and Badii finally takes a decision after talking to the taxidermist.
Kiarostami again placed his story in his own country, the background of its history is his usual Iran, is a new exercise in which is reflected the eastern Iranian and complex land, Tehran as geographical background, directly or indirectly. The pace of the film is relatively slow, as almost always happens in Kiarostami's films, and accordingly to this purpose, what moves the protagonist, delays in being exposed. During the first twenty minutes of the film we do not know what his purpose is, we see him just talking and doing various questions, both collector bags initially founded, and the young Kurdish soldier. We witness, see a middle-aged man who, without ever exposing during the entire feature reasons, has decided to end his days, it's all we know, and certainly, that's all we need to know for the picture works. The film is a celebration of life, leaving a little aside his usual close and intimate cinematographer portraits of his land and its people -is the more differentiated to temporarily close films to it in this respect-, to show his reflections about life, his outlooks. And in fact life is celebrated, the film is a beautiful allegory to the simplicity and beauty that dwells in the smallest and seemingly insignificant things, the story finally becomes background, it becomes a pretext for most important. The content, reflection approached by the movie is more important than at other times in Abbas, and the visual aspect, although never shelved, share importance and prominence to this aspect.
The camera work is something that does retain usual Kiarostami guidelines, a rather restrained camera without too elaborate shots, the few travellings flow observed when we look at the vehicle traveling, and of course, to also capture Iranian landscapes; Kiarostami continues in that way with his usual pattern of narrative simplicity visually speaking, always outside the eastern to use complex and elaborate tricks or technical resources of Western film industries, more conventional. This camera work contributes to the overall pace of the film, a rhythm, as stated, measured, serene, a simplicity that easily is often confused to slowness. The shots when the potential suicide moves alone show us his point of view, what the protagonist sees, an approach that helps the viewer to enter in history he is witnessing. Also, the proximity the filmmaker looks to generate between observer and protagonist is further reinforced by the side takes focusing Mr. Badii when driving the car also alone, without company. While silence reigns, we almost feel the copilot, we almost felt the companion of suicidality with that frame that makes it seem like you're sitting next to him. Both behavioral characteristics of the camera thus generate narrowness between the viewer and the individual in search of his undertaker, brings us closer to the world and history that Abbas presents. This camera action will always keep as long as the protagonist is in solitude, because that parsimony and silence are automatically broken when a passenger enters, sharing the driver shots with front passenger in turn; it is then that the secrecy of the camera before commented breaks.
The feature is then the parade of the three views that undergoes Mr Badii, with the soldier first, running scared of what is requested. It is plotted the fact that the young Kurdistan soldier, the individual who is trained to kill without hesitation, who deals with death, is the one that most frightened by the bizarre request; perhaps influenced by his age, but is eloquent his desperate escape running through the land, after jumping the car, the, worldly, more innocent reaction of the three. Then there is the Afghan seminarian, representing the religious point of view, a necessary approach, certainly necessary given the nature of the request, the filmmaker presents religious opinion condemning suicide as a sin. The vast majority of religions condemn the act of killing oneself, and religion of the Koran could not be the exception; the seminarian condemns the act, Allah is the origin and destiny of human life; suicide is to kill, kill oneself, but killing at last. Calmly seminarian rejects the request, regardless of the substantial amount of money offered, and suggests Badii to reconsider and rectify his conduct. The third breakthrough is definitely the most important, military and religion have presented its views, it's turn of the most human experience, with the old man who not only speaks and advises, but by sharing his powerful testimony makes the potential suicide reflect, and the viewer himself at once. His moving testimony tells us how to find in the smaller and insignificant things, like some cherries, a source of joy, a source of something that can completely change our outlook on life.
The epiphany of the elderly is the heart of the feature, genuine axis and core of the work, and not in vain is what beautiful and symbolically titled the film, and the figures reinforcing this idea are abundant and remarkable. Cherries are the symbol of life, which made a man about to take his own life reconsider everything; simplicity and insignificance of the fruit returned hope to live, something apparently puerile and unimportant can generate something miraculous, can change everything. When the old man conveys his epiphanic experience, when he talks about how he ate the cherries, we see a sunrise, the sun rises, life comes again; when the old man shares his testimony in what is almost a monologue on his part, oblivious to the previous episodes, something changes (when the soldier and the seminarian raided the film, Iranian ground was symbolically more arid than ever, almost always land, barren land -like the attitude of the protagonist-, and almost nothing of nature, almost no life; in more than one occasion the figure of crows flying over the territory is seen, which fateful omen). When Mr. Bagheri participates noticeable change is observed: the ground remains dry, but the green and plants, trees in rows appear, autumn colors, but also green trees flow, green, life has returned, and even, almost implausibly, a small water fountain as well; no doubt, life comes along with the old man, arrives along with the story of cherries. An image for a few seconds still shows a tree in the center of the frame, until the car moves, as well as the camera. Cherries changed everything, the man went to take his own life, and returned eating fruits, bringing cherries to his wife. The ending is very powerful, a superb example of the type of film that Kiarostami avowedly profess, a cinema that is not complete in itself, which requires audience participation, as evidenced by its denouement, an exquisite and palpable sample of what he means, perhaps the most eloquent one seen from the director. To reinforce this, the filmmaker shows himself and his team filming, an always interesting resource that reminds us that what is shown is a representation, invites us to complete the unfinished and challenging circuit which is always his art. Excellent feature from a filmmaker who produces a highly differentiated and defined cinema, who generates beautiful visual allegories, is Abbas Kiarostami.
When making this film Abbas Kiarostami was already considered one of the most brilliant filmmakers within the international film context at the end of the century. He had produced one of his major and most recognized works, Through the Olive Trees (1994), which finished catapulting him to the world stardom, and it closed his famous trilogy known as the Trilogy of the earthquake, where he explored and paid tribute to his native Iran and the aftermath of the quake. After that exercise, he made a film segment and a documentary before his next film, the work at hand now. We are facing one of the most memorable works of oriental filmmaker, which is separated from some guidelines of that triad of pictures, to develop some novelties in his art. Kiarostami narrates us in his film the story of a middle-aged man, who reached the point of its existence where has decided to take his life, and for that he must find someone to bury him when he has achieved its purpose, in exchange for much money. In his search the individual will find three different leads, a young soldier, a seminarian, and finally a taxidermist; all three will have different reactions to the request, but the third one will be who have greater influence. A remarkable, beautiful feature, and a great example of the kind of films that makes the director, that continues to consolidate its author as one of the most interesting artists in the panorama of cinema of today.
Tape starts with a character, a man who calls himself Mr. Badii (Homayoun Ershadi), driving a vehicle through Iranian arid lands, without much apparent reason. On his way he meets an individual who collects plastic bags to sell; then picks up a young soldier of Kurdistan (Safar Ali Moradi). After a brief conversation, Mr. Badii says he has decided to commit suicide, and once made his act, needs someone to bury him. After taking him to the grave he has already dug, he offers the young fellow a lot of money in return, but the soldier escapes finally frightened by the proposal. Mr. Badii does not desist in his purpose, and the next character is a seminarian (Mir Hossein Noori), makes him the same request and offers the same reward, but the religious man expresses his opinion of the sinfulness he considers suicide, and refuses as well to help him. Finally Badii finds a third man, a mature taxidermist, Mr. Bagheri (Abdolrahman Bagheri), who will hear the same request, and talks about a personal experience, when he attempted suicide by strangling. The tree where he was to hang himself, was a cherry tree, he ended up tasting the fruit, enjoying and taking some to his wife at home; cherries saved his life. Urges him not to suicide, and Badii finally takes a decision after talking to the taxidermist.
Kiarostami again placed his story in his own country, the background of its history is his usual Iran, is a new exercise in which is reflected the eastern Iranian and complex land, Tehran as geographical background, directly or indirectly. The pace of the film is relatively slow, as almost always happens in Kiarostami's films, and accordingly to this purpose, what moves the protagonist, delays in being exposed. During the first twenty minutes of the film we do not know what his purpose is, we see him just talking and doing various questions, both collector bags initially founded, and the young Kurdish soldier. We witness, see a middle-aged man who, without ever exposing during the entire feature reasons, has decided to end his days, it's all we know, and certainly, that's all we need to know for the picture works. The film is a celebration of life, leaving a little aside his usual close and intimate cinematographer portraits of his land and its people -is the more differentiated to temporarily close films to it in this respect-, to show his reflections about life, his outlooks. And in fact life is celebrated, the film is a beautiful allegory to the simplicity and beauty that dwells in the smallest and seemingly insignificant things, the story finally becomes background, it becomes a pretext for most important. The content, reflection approached by the movie is more important than at other times in Abbas, and the visual aspect, although never shelved, share importance and prominence to this aspect.
The feature is then the parade of the three views that undergoes Mr Badii, with the soldier first, running scared of what is requested. It is plotted the fact that the young Kurdistan soldier, the individual who is trained to kill without hesitation, who deals with death, is the one that most frightened by the bizarre request; perhaps influenced by his age, but is eloquent his desperate escape running through the land, after jumping the car, the, worldly, more innocent reaction of the three. Then there is the Afghan seminarian, representing the religious point of view, a necessary approach, certainly necessary given the nature of the request, the filmmaker presents religious opinion condemning suicide as a sin. The vast majority of religions condemn the act of killing oneself, and religion of the Koran could not be the exception; the seminarian condemns the act, Allah is the origin and destiny of human life; suicide is to kill, kill oneself, but killing at last. Calmly seminarian rejects the request, regardless of the substantial amount of money offered, and suggests Badii to reconsider and rectify his conduct. The third breakthrough is definitely the most important, military and religion have presented its views, it's turn of the most human experience, with the old man who not only speaks and advises, but by sharing his powerful testimony makes the potential suicide reflect, and the viewer himself at once. His moving testimony tells us how to find in the smaller and insignificant things, like some cherries, a source of joy, a source of something that can completely change our outlook on life.
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