In a ravaged, brutally beautiful mountain landscape along the Iran-Iraq border, a group of teachers, with blackboards strapped to their backs, roam the countryside in search of pupils. After an attack by an army helicopter, two of the teachers, Said and Reeboir, separate from the group. Reeboir travels the dirt roads with a gang of illiterate boys who smuggle stolen goods across the border. Meanwhile, Said joins up with a group of old and tired men who, after years of being refugees, struggle to
get back across the border to their bombed village of Halabcheh. Virtually none of the Kurds express an interest in learning to read or write, but the teachers' blackboards are pressed into service in a variety of other ways: camouflage, a stretcher, a splint for a broken leg, as well as providing shelter and protection from the frequent bursts of gunfire from the border troops. Still, Said and Reeboir persevere in their effort to educate anyone who is willing to learn. In a world filled with hardship and ignorance, the two teachers offer hope, kindness and the blessing of knowledge.
When I first saw Blackboards three years ago I was surprised as well as puzzled that in some ways it reminded me of John Ford's 1950 western Wagon Master.
life for these people is so hard that the mere depiction of a single day provides enough drama to where a grand and complex plot seems all but unnecessary
Reeboir varies between a sweet smile and an angry bark, while Said attempts to wear down possible pupils through repetition. It has no affect on the Kurds, but it wore me down.
The stripped-down dramatic constructs, austere imagery and abstract characters are equal parts poetry and politics, obvious at times but evocative and heartfelt.
Like many Iranian filmmakers, Makhmalbaf prefers ambiguity to agitprop in her approach to politically contentious subject matter, but the results are still bracing and affecting.
With its frustratingly persistent repetition, it's easy to write Blackboards off, but beneath the slog, there's an at-least-interesting movie lurking. The film does a decent job of aligning the viewer with its protagonists, traveling teachers searching for students in the stark Iranian landscape. The titular teaching
tools take on multiple purposes and have the least utility when being employed for their intended purposes. With a jarring grittiness and verity that recall Neorealism, the film's urgency is more pronounced than it would be in a slicker package, meaning the message comes out strong and mostly clear, even if the same adjectives can't be rightfully assigned to the film as a whole.
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