(This review contains spoilers. If you’re allergic to spoilers, please stop reading.)
The Persian poet Sohrab Sepehri has a wonderful poem, ‘Address’:
“Where is my friend’s house?”
The rider asks in twilight light.
Paradise paused and smiled.
Spreading light at the corners of lips,
Pushing away darkness from that desert,
Raising a finger toward a poplar tree, the traveler said,
“Right there, near that tree
There is a garden—your eyes will burn seeing the green of that green row,
Look there,
Where love is bluer than the feathers of honesty,
Follow along that row,
At the end of following, life will awaken,
Turn back a little and see the flower of solitude,
Take two steps toward the flower,
Beside the stream that flows from myth to the heart of earth, sit for a while,
If you feel afraid there, dry leaves will chase away fear, if you listen carefully then you will hear.
A divine child will come, see—
He comes from atop tall trees with news of celestial light.
Ask him:
“Where is my friend’s house?”
In 1987, inspired by this poem’s theme, Abbas Kiarostami made ‘Where Is the Friend’s House?’, the title also taken from the poem’s line. Among filmmakers who teach life’s various philosophies through very simple stories, Abbas Kiarostami is certainly one of the foremost. “I was deeply saddened by Satyajit’s death. Later I felt that Abbas had come to take Satyajit’s place.” These words belong to the legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. The film through which Abbas Kiarostami first gained international critical attention was ‘Where Is the Friend’s House? (1987)’
The film begins with a closed door. The door is shut, children’s commotion can be heard from inside. We enter the classroom, along with us enters the teacher. He’s scolding the children for making noise. He’s teaching the class, the door keeps opening, he keeps closing it. This scene alone tells the entire story. In this movie, the door plays a very important role. The door is a symbol of discipline, the absence of freedom. During that time in Iran, children had to grow up within various familial and social constraints. A person lives their childhood only once. And during that time, in the name of raising children with discipline and control, such unnecessary rules and regulations were imposed on them that hindered their natural development. What the adults’ mentality was regarding children can be seen from one scene in the movie:
(The story’s protagonist, 8-year-old Ahmad, is walking quickly. Ahmad’s grandfather is calling him from behind.)
Ahmad! Where are you going? Come here!
Salaam.
Where were you going?
To buy bread.
I asked you a question. Answer properly. Where did you go? Why did you go to Poshteh?
To return the notebook to Mohammad Reza. He’s my classmate.
Did you give it?
No, I couldn’t find him.
Go, bring me some cigarettes.
I have to go to the bakery.
First bring my cigarettes.
But if I’m late, no one will be able to eat bread.
I don’t want to repeat what I’ve said.
(Ahmad went to buy cigarettes. The old man next to grandfather is talking to him.)
Here, I have some cigarettes.
No, I have cigarettes too. The real issue isn’t cigarettes, I actually want the child to learn manners, so that he can become a good person in the future. When I was small, my father used to give me one anna per week, and every fifteen days he would beat me. Sometimes he would deliberately forget to give me money, but he never forgot to beat me, so that he could make me strong. You saw yourself, I told my grandson to bring cigarettes, and I had to tell him three times. Even then he didn’t listen to me. I want our children to be educated with good discipline. He’s lazy, he won’t be of any use to society.
Suppose he listens to you. Would you still beat him then?
Because then…………..
Of course I’d beat him. I told you, even if my father forgot to give me pocket money, he never forgot to beat me. You understand, this is called discipline. Society’s children must learn this. They must obey their parents, they must carry all traditions within themselves.
Alright, I understand. But if the child doesn’t make any mistake, then? What would you do then?
I’d find some excuse and beat him. Every fifteen days I’d beat him, so that he can never forget this beating.
Understand the situation! Well, isn’t our society’s picture the same? Ahmad’s grandfather is an uneducated man, he wants to blindly apply to his grandson what he himself has experienced, but what’s the worth of education for those educated people around us who believe, “Since my senior wronged me, I will take ‘revenge’ on my junior”? What’s the difference between their mentality and Ahmad’s rural uneducated grandfather’s? In this movie we see that adults don’t listen to children’s words with any seriousness, sometimes don’t listen at all. No one among Ahmad’s elders takes his words seriously, doesn’t even consider it necessary to listen to him. In this film, Ahmad is a symbol of children’s morality and sense of justice. He accidentally brings home his friend Nematzadeh’s notebook in his bag. It looks exactly like his own notebook, so he didn’t notice. Meanwhile, if his friend goes to school the next day without doing homework, he’ll be expelled from school. Now what to do? His mother keeps saying, just return the notebook the next day. Despite his mother’s repeated forbidding, Ahmad set out looking for his friend under the pretext of buying bread. He begins to feel that by bringing his friend’s notebook in his bag, he made a mistake, and if his friend gets expelled because of this mistake, then Ahmad also bears responsibility. He doesn’t know his friend’s house, moreover the village is far from Ahmad’s village. When he couldn’t find his friend’s house despite asking many people and searching a lot, he returns to his house, and stays up all night copying the homework that needs to be shown at school the next day into both his own and his friend’s notebook. When an iron door merchant almost snatched the notebook from Ahmad’s hand and tore a page to do some calculation, Ahmad’s helpless expression at that moment is worth remembering.
In the movie we see that the village people are replacing old wooden doors with new iron doors. Those who are leaving the village for the city are also using iron doors in their houses. Here, the replacement of wooden doors with iron doors hints at the complexity taking the place of simple living. Ahmad’s ethics and friendship didn’t move the iron door merchant, he didn’t pay any attention to Ahmad’s words, but the old-fashioned wooden door merchant, the elderly man, properly valued Ahmad’s emotions and feelings, helped Ahmad search for his friend’s house. When a storm suddenly arose and 8-year-old Ahmad, out of fear, returned to his own house instead of going to his friend’s house, Abbas Kiarostami didn’t show us his return home but showed us the old carpenter returning home, closing his window, and going to rest. Going to sleep with satisfaction after helping a child—even if there’s no worldly gain, there’s spiritual peace. In this movie, Ahmad and the old carpenter give us this feeling: there are still many good people in this society who stand by people in distress without expecting anything in return, everything hasn’t yet fallen into the hands of the corrupt.
A question for those who have watched the movie. Tell me honestly, when Ahmad couldn’t find Nematzadeh’s house, didn’t it cross your mind even once that Nematzadeh was going to be punished the next day?