1 Person Every 5 Minutes

I disagree with Roxanne Varzi. I think Makhmalbaf does a good job of showing the despair of the people in Iran. I do agree with her statement that the film is visually stunning. The imagery is necessary because it humanizes the people in the film. It lets the viewer know that Iran is not just a hectic place like the images on CNN, for example, would portray. It is a place where people live their everyday lives.
There are moments and one-liners in the film that stick out. "For the past twenty years a person has died every five minutes.", "A man's burqa is a woman's beard.", "If you see a doll it may be a bomb.". There are some very shocking and upsetting things in this film. Varzi thinks that Makhmalbaf's failed to show a film that explained unemployment and hunger in Iran. I think he did a brilliant job. He showed images that were surprising but not devastating. He also used English, perhaps so more people can relate to the film.
        I also disagree with her statement that these people do not have stories. Nafas explains her need to get to her sister in detail and shows distress about that several times in the film. Although Khak does not show his feelings much there is a lot we can infer about him. In school he was not mentally present. It reminded me of the behavior a child with ADHD might exhibit here in the states. Several of the legless men expressed there needs, especially the one who traveled for his wife. There was not a lot of background done on the characters but we saw their urgent needs. With those urgent needs we can gauge what their lives were like or at least see what it was in that moment and establish feelings toward that.
        Makhmalbaf also uses great imagery. The corpse and legs attached to the parachute are some. He also takes advantage of close-ups. I feel that this is very common in western film. It allows us to get close to the characters, understand the emotions they are conveying and feel empathy for them.
        I think Varzi was very harsh on the film. Yes, Makhmalbaf took advantage of using stunning visuals and I do not think that is a reason to punish him. I felt like I already knew these characters because we were thrown into a specific time of there lives. I didn't feel as though a back story was needed for them. Makhmalbaf does a great job of including moments and sentences that stand out. For instance, the line about a person dying every five minutes. That's ridiculous right there! In my opinion those moments of the film were all that was needed.