THE WHITE BALLOON (BADKONAKE SEFID)
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1996 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
THE WHITE BALLOON (BADKONAKE SEFID) is one of those simple movies about the heart warming adventures of a couple of kids. It is an Iranian film about the preparations for the coming Persian New Year. The movie is told in almost real time and starts one and a half hours before the beginning of the New Year when the people in Teheran are in a frenzy making sure that everything is ready. Excitement is in the air.
As the story starts, a girl about 6, Razieh (Aida Mohammadkhani), her brother about 10, Ali (Mohsen Kafili), and their mother (Fereshteh Sadr Orfani) are busy with their preparations for the New Year. Apparently it is important to have a goldfish, and although the family's goldfish are so popular that people come to buy them, Razieh whines incessantly with her scratchy voice that their goldfish are "too skinny", and they must go to the market to get some fat ones.
It was at this point in the show that my guilt began. How could I not be liking a show that was trying so hard? Clearly director Jafar Panahi was doing his best to craft a sweet little slice of life piece, and here he had gotten himself a girl that has no screen presence and more over was about as much fun to listen to as someone scraping their fingers down a blackboard. Her voice is terrible, and she scowls in most of her scenes. Playing a role of the little girl that everyone wished would go away, she could do, but here so was supposed to be the charming lead character. Aida Mohammadkhani plays Razieh as a very unsympathetic character. Oh well, I though, the mother is sweet and the brother is not too bad, perhaps the only flaw, albeit a large one, will be the miscast lead.
Her older brother is voiced by Mohsen Kalifi, but is never seen. Soon I was to find another aspect of the story as infuriating as Aida Mohammadkhani's performance, namely the show's sound by Said Ahmadl and Mojtaba Mortazavi. Rarely is it that the sound becomes a big detraction, but it is in THE WHITE BALLOON. Striving for authenticity, I guess, the director has background sounds frequently drowning out the actors. Now, loud music is one thing, but the audience has to endure a cacophony of obnoxious traffic noises, radio talk shows blasting out from hidden boom boxes, and most irritatingly of all, off screen people, especially the unseen older brother inside the house, yelling at other people. It made me want to escape the theater and go sit in some peaceful spot to give my ears a rest. Just when the background noise would subside, Razieh would start her whining again. Not a pleasant time.
The story goes on and features a snake charmer, lost money, and other small adventures. The script by Abbas Kiarostami is minimalist and is need of a rewrite. We are left with a story that works or doesn't solely based on the intrinsic charm of the lead character.
So what is good about the show? Mohsen Kafili and Fereshteh Sadr Orfani deliver nice performances. The music, when it is there, is quite pleasant. Most of all, I give the producer (Kurosh Mazkouri) a lot of credit for attempting such a sweet little tale. It is too bad the execution is so flawed.
As a critic, there is nothing worse than having to give a thumbs down to something that you want desperately to like, but can not. It is oh so much easier to err on the side of grade inflation. Giving movies thumbs down has the potential for generating a plethora of complaining letters ranging from polite disagreements to diatribes. If you overpraise a movie, all you get is silence. When I confessed that I did not like FOREST GUMP, BURNT BY THE SUN, and THE BIRDCAGE, I got a wide range of letters, but most people claimed it proved how stupid I was not to have liked the movie since they and the rest of known world liked it, end of argument. As Somerset Maugham said, "People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise."
THE WHITE BALLOON runs 1:25, but feels a lot longer. It is in Farsi with English subtitles. It has no MPAA rating, but would probably be G. The show would be fine for kids of all ages, but I suspect most will be as bored with it as I was. I can not recommend this attempt at a sweet little tale, but I give the film * 1/2 for trying hard and for a couple of decent performances by the mother and the younger brother. Actually, I fear that I getting too softhearted, and * 1/2 may be too generous.
**** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: March 21, 1996
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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