Fouad Nahas
Occupation
Filmmaker
Baran Review
Excellent
Before jumping into the details of this dramatic love story, some cultural details need to be outlined. Afghanistan's poverty is acknowledged fact. From control by the Soviets to that of the Taliban, the average citizen has had little freedom. Hence, refugees risk exhaustive trips to work in neighboring countries, such as Iran, in the hopes of saving money and freeing the rest of their family.This is where Baran begins, at a construction site mostly functioning on illegal Afghani immigrants, supervised by the kind but frugal Memar (Mohammad Reza Naji). He hires them because they are cheap and work hard, though government officials are constantly popping by to squash the use of this labor force. Iran isn't the richest country either, and the stream of immigrants grows everyday.
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