Baran (2001)

Baran: Directed by Majid Majidi. With Hossein Abedini, Zahra Bahrami, Mohammad Amir Naji, Hossein Mahjoub. In a building site in present-day Tehran, Lateef, a 17-year-old Turkish worker is irresistibly drawn to Rahmat, a young Afghan worker. The revelation of Rahmat’s secret changes both their lives.

“Baran is the story of an Iranian construction worker, Latif, who is not really doing his job – he serves tea and food to the rest of the workers, managing to avoid the really hard work. He is at first a hot-tempered, selfish youth – but then, u0026#39;Rahmanu0026#39;, an illegal Afghanistan imigrant, comes to work. He is a young, weak worker, and is at once put in Latifu0026#39;s job – and Rahman does a better job, too. Jealous and angry, Latif tries to make life miserable for his new adversary… until he accidentally discovers that u0026#39;Rahmanu0026#39; is not a boy – u0026#39;Rahmanu0026#39; is u0026#39;Baranu0026#39;, a woman.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLatif, who even though used to be a careless youth, always had a soft, romantic spot in his heart – and when he realizes Baran is a woman, he falls in love with her. He seeks to protect and help her, and his entire life is slowly and surely changed for the better because of her.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMany people have critisized this film, saying itu0026#39;s poorly acted, the script is badly written, etc. Please remember: this is not a Hollywood movie! This movie is not in the least bit American, therefore the viewer needs to be open minded to the different culture of Iranian cinema. Baran never says a single word in the entire film. u0026#39;BARANu0026#39; is a beautiful romantic drama filled with angst and stunning visual scapes. I give it 8 out of 10 stars.”