Baran (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Madman Progaganda x 4
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	95:45 (Case: 94)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (53:36)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Majid Majidi
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Hossein Abedini Zahra Bahrami Mohammad Amir Naji Hossein Mahjoub Abbas Rahimi Gholam Ali Bakhshi Jafar Tawakoli Yadollah Hedayati Parviz Larijani Mahmoud Behraznia Pasha Barabadi Kamal Parto Maghsood Moghadan
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	Rental	Music	Ahmad Pezhman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Farsi Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     With the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the subsequent rise of the Taliban and the civil war, up to 1.5 million Afghan refugees fled into Iran, living in poverty and taking whatever menial jobs they could find, including working illegally on building sites with poor safety records.

     Iranian youth Lateef (Hossein Abedini) works on the construction site overseen by Memar (Mohammad Amir Naji), doing light jobs including the shopping, making tea for the workers and cleaning up. When Afghan Najaf (Gholam Ali Bakhshi) falls from the second floor and breaks his leg he cannot work. He has 5 children at home to feed and his friend and fellow Afghan worker Soltan (Abbas Rahimi) begs Memar to allow Najaf’s child Rahmat (Zahra Bahrami) to take his place on the site. Memar agrees, but Rahmat is too small for heavy lifting, so takes over Lateef’s light duties. Lateef is required to do heavier, dirtier work. He is resentful and makes life difficult for Rahmat, for example sabotaging the tea room. Then he discovers that Rahmat is in fact a girl, Baran, and things change as he becomes very protective of her.

     When building inspectors raid the site and force all Afghans to be fired, Lateef cannot forget Baran and sets out to find her and her family. When he succeeds he sees their poverty. He is unable to declare his feelings for Baran to anyone, much less her father, so he tries to help Najaf as much as he can, with some unexpected results.

     Baran (Rain) is from writer / director Majid Majidi, one of Iran’s most important and influential directors. His films, including Children of Heaven (1997) and Colour of Paradise (1999) have received awards both in Iran and internationally, the former being nominated for an Academy Award but losing out to Roberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful. His films tell simple tales of ordinary people and Baran is no exception.

     Baran, is a simple tale, simply told. There is no flashy camera work and the film looks beautiful with views of the building sites and streets of Tehran, often under a blanket of snow, and the villages outside the city where the Afghan refugees have made their homes. The acting is wonderful and natural: Hossein Abedini is seldom off camera and he brings a marvellous blend of innocence, sadness and determination to the role of Lateef. Zahra Bahrami as Rahmat / Baran says not a single word in the picture but her eyes are expressive, and her almost smile at the end before she disappears into her lime green burka is stunning, and says all you need to know. Indeed, all the cast are perfect.

     Beautifully acted and shot, Baran shows that you do not need car chases, explosions or even kisses to achieve a film that says many things about ordinary people and simple lives. If you have seen other films from writer / director Majid Majidi you know what to expect. If you have not, but enjoy beautifully made simple films, then give Baran a try.

Video

     Baran is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, the original theatrical ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     The budget of the film would not buy coffee for an American production, which does impact upon the film’s presentation. The print is fairly soft, although detail in the close shots of faces is good. Colours are natural but dull, but given that it was set in the Iranian winter with frequent snow this is a good choice. Skin tones are natural. Blacks are solid and shadow detail fine in the limited night scenes. Contrast and brightness are consistent.

     There are minor artefacts: occasional MPEG ghosting, the odd small dirt mark and a blurry white vertical line at 49:45. None are serious or distracting however.

     The English subtitles are in a yellow font and are easy to read. They are in American English and I did not notice any spelling or grammatical errors.

    The layer change at 53:36 resulted in a slight pause.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is Farsi/Dari Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo at 192 Kbps. It is not surround encoded.

     The track is perfectly adequate for this film. The dialogue is naturalistic and easy to hear. The front speakers are also used for weather effects, such as rain and wind, and other natural sounds. There is no hiss or crackle.

     Lip synchronisation was fine.

     There is very little music in the film. What occurs is soft and melodic, courtesy of composer Ahmad Pezhman.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Original Trailer (1:27)

Madman Propaganda

     Trailers for other films from Madman: Ushpizin (1:31), The Boy Who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamyam (1:53), The Wind Will Carry Us (1:43) and Offside (2:20).

     The Region 1 US release is identical to ours. I cannot find any listing of a Region 2 UK release.

     Baran is another in the line of simple stories from writer / director Majid Majidi, one of Iran’s most important and influential directors. If you enjoy beautifully made simple films, then give Baran a try.

     The video and audio is fine. A trailer is the only extra but there is nothing more extensive elsewhere.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall