Blackboards

Samira Makhmalbaf's 2000 Iranian film follows itinerant Kurdish teachers carrying blackboards on their backs through the mountains on the Iran and Iraq border. They are looking for pupils; none of the people they find has time to learn, because all of them are either smuggling goods or trying to return to a bombed village. The image at the centre explains itself: the instrument of education is a load on the carrier's back and, when needed, a shield. Makhmalbaf made this film at twenty and won a jury prize at Cannes. Most of the cast are not professionals. The story does not progress; the two teachers' paths separate and the film follows each in turn. Who it's for: viewers interested in Iranian cinema and stories of border regions. Who it's not for: anyone wanting plot, or a hopeful close.