WIND CARRIERS

Iran, 2004, 75 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Abdol Reza Kahani.

Wind Carriers is a brief ethnographical film with a plotline. It is the real-life story of a man in the Baluchi area of Iran with five wives, fifty children, who form a community of their own. The film opens with wind, the need for people to get tarpaulin over the crops so that they will not be blown away. This creates an atmosphere of anxiety for livelihood. This theme continues as we see the people working in the village, in the fields, washing themselves in the river, enjoying meals, having celebrations together. The old man is a strong patriarch of his family and village. However, when a young man wants to marry one of the women, this upsets the whole balance of the village and the film moves into a melodramatic format.

The film is valuable for its documentary-like look at the landscapes, the way of life, the people and their customs in this particular area of Iran.