Two-Legged Horse

A wealthy boy hires a poor child for money and has him carry him about like a horse. The arrangement begins like a game, but once it becomes a daily routine the relation between them sets hard: one pays, the other carries. The film builds this as a parable and uses very little speech. The account does not ask for pity for the poor child, nor make a monster of the wealthy one; it looks at the bond that money itself creates. The scenes were shot on location in a barren landscape. The players are not professionals, and this gives the scenes a documentary texture. When carrying turns into work is the film’s real question. Samira Makhmalbaf’s hundred and one minute Persian language film was completed in 2009.