A child of poverty in modern Iran
A True Story
Directed by Abolfazi Jalili
Sydney Film Festival
Review by Brendan Doyle
There are films that stay with you long after the screening. For me, this tiny-budget, hardly edited and atrociously subtitled documentary from Iranian film maker Jalili is one of those. Dedicated to "the innocent children of Iran who still suffer", it is a plea for humanity and an expose of a society that does not care for the children of the poor.
The director, Jalili, was casting boys to play in a new drama. In a Tehran bakery he finds 15-year-old Samad, who is ideal for the part except he has a limp, and possibly a cancerous growth, caused by an untreated severe burn to one leg.
Jalili must choose — find another boy, or help this one to get medical treatment and forget the drama. He does what the other great Iranian director Makmalbaf would have done. He makes a film about helping the boy. Early in the film, he says to camera, "I don't know what will happen next", and that is precisely what makes the film fascinating.
He learns that Samad lost his father very early, his mother lives in a distant village, he never went to school and has been exploited in low-paid jobs since he was nine years old. And he never got proper treatment for his burns.
Jalili takes Samad to a series of doctors, until he finds one willing to be filmed — others seem ashamed by the state of their profession — and pays for the boy's treatment. We go to the boy's home village, a place of poverty and underdevelopment.
The director films his many discussions with Samad, doctors, employers and villagers. The result is a portrait of a society where only the well-off enjoy even the most basic necessities of life.
There are very touching moments, such as when Samad says he is working only so that his mother won't have to "do what some other women do" to make ends meet. Or when tears run down his cheek as he listens to a blind musician playing music he has composed for the film.
A True Story is proof that you don't need a big budget to make an unforgettable film.