THE NIGHT BUS
Iran, 2007, 90 minutes, Black and white/colour.
Directed by Kiumars Purahmad.
The Night Bus is one of many films about the Iraq- Iran war. This time the focus is small, the action taking place over one day. The main Iranian protagonists are an eighteen-year-old rookie soldier, the elderly driver of the bus (who has an artificial leg) and another soldier who had been a student in London before returning for the war. Their mission is to take thirty-eight Iraqi prisoners back in the bus to base for internment.
The film focuses initially on the character of the young man, a young innocent up to the age of sixteen but then called up and involved in war. His behaviour at times is erratic, naïve, but ultimately loyal with some compassion. The bus driver has a son at the war and is a wise old man. The third person is a genial soldier, finds that he has friends with the medical aid amongst the prisoners, sharing common friendships before the war, who is wounded during the surveillance during the trip, blinded, cared for by the nurse – but ultimately killed by a mine. His wife is waiting for him at the base but he does not return.
The film shows the thirty-eight prisoners, blindfold, travelling in the bus. One is an epileptic and has fits. Another is asked to help with the changing of a tyre. Ultimately, one prisoner who has concealed a knife takes the soldiers hostage – but the roles are reversed by the sympathetic man who changed the wheel, whose father was Iranian and his mother Iraqi.
There are many episodes along the way, interactions of characters, difficulties with the bus, flat tyres, dead ends, minefields. However, ultimately, the group arrives at base.
Two of the Iraqi prisoners, the man who changed the tyre as well as the nurse, are given very strong anti-Iraqi, anti-Saddam Hussein and Baath party speeches and there is an affirmation of common humanity and the need for peace.
1.The impact of the film? Prisoners of war? Comparisons with western films and the treatment of prisoners of war? The role of the guards? The particularly Iranian tone of the film?
2.The black and white photography, the desert, the interiors of the bus, day, night? The touches of colour towards the end? The musical score? The local music?
3.The title, the focus on the bus itself, old but manageable, the engine heating, the barbed wire and the flat tyre, changing the tyre? The survival in the bus?
4.The focus on the young soldier, his being cheeky, especially to the bus driver? His memories of being sixteen? His being eighteen? The mission, his being in charge, his associate? The discussions about the situation? His character developing during the bus trip, his having to take responsibility, instilling discipline and silence, the threats of violence, his inability to shoot, being taken hostage, carrying the rock and going through the minefield? The role reversals? His learning something of humanity? His return? His talking to his associate’s wife, unable to tell her the truth about her husband? Giving in the letter to the authorities? Speculation about his future?
5.The bus driver, old, non-combatant? Thinking the boy was cheeky? His driving skills, his having to help with the discipline? His interactions, using commonsense especially about the bus overheating, the need for water, the medical aid, the changing of the tyre, the dead ends? His being bashed by the Iraqi soldier, his leg thrown out of the door? The restoration, finishing his mission?
6.The assistant, casual, helping with the discipline? The man with the fit, the meeting with the nurse, the reminiscences of the past? His going for surveillance, the explosion, the damage to his eyes? The morphine and his suspicions? His journey? Dragging the stone, going through the minefield, not wanting to live, his letter to his wife, his death?
7.The Iraqi soldiers, as a group, blindfolded? Information as to the various countries they came from round about and from north Africa? Their being passive and accepting their prisoner-of-war status? The commander with the knife? His eventually revealing it, cutting the other man loose? Taking over? The need for water, the man having the fit? The man changing the tyre? The differences between Farsi and Arabic? Non-communication?
8.The takeover by the Iraqi commander, his militaristic tone, the rebellion of the man who changed the tyre? The role reversal, putting the two prisoners in the luggage compartment? The rest journeying to prison? The man who changed the tyre, his family background, travelling, his stories, family? His dream for the future with a bridge across the river and people sharing enjoyment?
9.The medic, his sympathies, his wanting to be like the other men so blindfolded, helping the man with the fit, the friendship with the soldier, the memories, at the end and meeting the assistant soldier’s wife? Their reminiscences?
10.The visualising of war, the desert, the explosions, the minefields? The danger for the bus? The base, the tank and the initial fear, testing out the tank? The officials at the base?
11.The explicit message about the Iraq- Iran war? Human nature? Possibilities for peace?
