Abbas Kiarostami — The Romantic Poet of Cinema
“In the total darkness, poetry is still there, and it is there for you” that soulful quote belongs to one great Iranian Filmmaker, ABBAS KIAROSTAMI. Unfortunately, he left us in July 2016, but the legacy he left behind is infinite in terms of his understanding of cinema, art, and life. He always used to express his emotion and drama in films through poetry, that’s the way he saw people communicate in his all-around, even his grandmother loved reading poetry and like
seeing outside of the car window. It’s the purity of expression which a poem consists in its own and that learning of communication was had a connection with Sufism, he was very inspired by Rumi, Khayyam, and various other Persian poets, which completely gave him a magical tool to
build a divine connection between God, love and humanity. The characters were the one in which Kiarostami finds that an unknown space and recite the poetry through them, for instance, there’s a poem of Forough Farrokhzad “The wind will carry us” and he made a movie with the
same name and in the film the recitation of the poem was in the darkness where the poetry lies and filling the gaps between the characters, he represented poetry as a mark of independence and created his trademark which always stays with people for years. When the protagonist visiting in
Italy and remembering a Persian poem, that symbolizes the liberal approach of Kiarostami regarding poetry. In one of his films, “Certified Copy” (2010) in which he used a poem called “Garden of Leaflessness” by Mehdi Akhavan Sales that also metaphorically showing the
condition of the protagonist’s relation with his wife in the film. Another gem which Kiarostami got from the poetry was the innocence and a divine energy, including his characters, story, and setting everything goes with that innocence and energy which resembles with the magic of
human existence. That’s how the portrayal of children and young teenagers were the important elements for him to find that innocence very easy to conveyable in cinema and later with every film he discovered those elements in each of his stories, because that innocence part was not just
related to a particular age group but the whole homo sapiens and that’s the crucial responsibility as a filmmaker to represent that a small piece of life in the cinema as an art form.
The impeccable narrators
The children are innocent metaphorical narrators of the story, they were the various mediums from which Kiarostami revealed the background of the whole setting of the film. In Where’s the friend’s home (1987) directed by himself, actually focused upon the 8-year child Ahmed, who throughout the movie had been searching for his friend’s home and in that journey he met with different kinds of people in the village and with them the audiences got to know about the socio-political state of rural Iran. The portrayal of children was a realistic magical approach towards humankind for the world cinema that Kiarostami discovered, initially in 1969, he worked for the film department in a new agency called “The center for the intellectual development of Children and young adults (Kanun), so he was already very familiar with the circumstances of those communities in Iran and when he started making films, the idea of a story and characters
revolves around children and young adults.
Abbas Kiarostami very often used children as a messenger of God who always shown as a guide for the protagonist to reveal the whole background of the plot, in the movie “The wind will carry us” (1999) directed by him, the young boy played as a host and guide for the protagonist in the village, he helped him in seeing the
village and both audiences as well as the protagonist saw the background of the area from his perspective. He has also shown as a medium or messenger literally who was giving all the information and worked as the connection between the protagonist and the dramatic question for
the story. The most vulnerable section of rural Iran was the young generation, i.e. children and young adults who were the future of the world and Kiarostami finds and conveyed beautifully the innocence in the stories through those people. One exceptional approach that Kiarostami was
mastered, was romanticizing their child characters in which they can speak fearlessly and be hopeful at the same time. For instance, in the second film of his koker trilogy “And life goes on…” (1992), in which a child called Pouya going to koker with his father after a devastating earthquake happened and stops in between another village for having some water. While talking to a lady about the earthquake, he justified the hopeful ambition behind it and the god’s interference regarding her daughter’s death in that calamity. It’s an art that gives the audience a good piece of knowledge and yet maintaining that innocence level through realistic faces.
Kiarostami was always looking for the innocent elements not only in their child actors but also in creating that vivacity in their various characters, he does that very often to alive that element of
human in his different stories, for instance in “Through the olive trees” (1994), Hossein, a young adult boy who falls in love with a girl and wanted to marry her, but she rejected that proposal due to socio-economical background, in the process of convincing her, he did all those activities
which a normal lover would do and at the same time balancing his characterization according to age number he belongs, but that element of human or that childish emotion dominates in that entire film. Kiarostami always brings to the table what we couldn’t see through our physical eyes.
The portrayal of himself
It is very interesting to watch some great aspects of the director in the form of sub-characters in the film, though they were not so important, but its representation of the director’s take which showing on the screen. That’s what Abbas Kiarostami does every time, he puts himself into a story and covered with a different body, it was like the body was owned by some real characters and the actual soul belongs to him. The cameo was always reflecting a special part that belongs to him irrespective of their age number or as such, it’s like he would come anytime and anywhere. When the third person Azeri Taxidermist sits in the car with Mr. Badii in the film
called “Taste of Cherry” (1997), which received worldwide critical acclamation and also got Palme d’Or at Cannes and that person was ready to help him in burying after committing suicide because he needs money for his sick child. During the journey with Mr. Badii, he revealed that
he also wanted to commit suicide a long time ago, but when after tasting mulberries, he chose life over death. The perspective of watching everything around, it changed completely, then he admired the beautiful sunrise, children going to their schools and everything looks very surreal at
that particular moment and still that excitement feeling about life continues going on. Azeri was nothing but a majestic representation of a human storyteller, who thinks little antithetical from the protagonist and hopeful about life because of his past experiences that defined him as a small significant part of Kiarostami.
Art and human life are closely interlinked with each other, the best way to express that relationship is through poetry and Kiarostami was the best person to portray that soulful bonding on screen through his sub-characters. “I don’t know what kind of art it is, that makes people look older and uglier than they are. “Art is making people look a little younger. Making the young look older isn’t art.
No one appreciates youth until they grow old…” this statement made by the passer-by Mr. Rouhi in the film “And life goes on…” (1992), who sits with the film director in his car and speaking about his older look in the film “Where’s the friend’s home” (1987) and making that satirical statement about the art and how it poetically affects human life experiences. A film is all about revolving around different perspectives, it helps in creating a separate kind of world which a director and writer imagined before the starting of any film. It’s an incredible approach by Kiarostami to make his few sub-characters very strong while they were confronting with lead
actors and actresses.
In “Certified Copy” (2010), written and directed by him, there’s a café scene where the old lady owner starts talking with the lead actress and shared her experience about being a married woman, there was evident noticeable perspective difference between both
of them. The old lady’s point of view about men and in particular the protagonist relationship with her husband was more matured or it’s the acceptance which pushing her to speak in that way, but that argument creates very subtle conflict in the scene and the character of the lady
justified with all the truth belongs to that age supposedly to speak. Sometimes people need a basic push to make things beautiful and memorable, it goes with films too, the characters also
need that basic push and the responsibility was given to our sub-characters in the story. For instance, in the same film, our protagonists were in the middle of an argument because of their conflicting perspective toward artwork nearby as well as human life. During the walk through
the city, they encounter an old couple and talks about the subjective interpretation of a nearby statue. That old man gave him fatherly advice about the gesture of walking beside her and laying his hand on her shoulder and that’s all she wants from him. It’s a very basic push which that old man as a sub-character given for helping him to see things with a different perspective and that’s all his characters to do and Kiarostami shown the simplicity of that interaction in a very innocent manner.
Beyond the frame — The depth of an image
Any art form is so powerful that it gives us a separate kind of space where we’re free to interpret with our understanding regarding that subject, the cinema is also working like that, there are no such barriers which could stop you to think freely about a film. Once, Andrei Tarkovsky said “A book read by a thousand different people is a thousand different books.” and beyond that perspective, there’s one truthful approach to make cinema alive in people’s hearts and minds for years. Abbas Kiarostami was a master of that craft, in each one of his movies he created that thoughtful space for the audiences to come, finish their stories and solve that puzzle which he
purposely created. This could be shown in his long shots, like the iconic climax scene of “Through the olive trees” (1994), the space between the camera and the characters was that metaphorical space in which audiences thinking differently about both of them who were getting
small and small and became one dot by going too far in that frame and after some time Hossein came with a happy body posture and everything was complimenting by classic Iranian orchestral music.
The audience doesn’t get what exactly happened with them, but that’s the puzzle he created with clues, and they are supposed to solve it with their understandings. The continuation of meaningful long shots in which characters were moving and the camera was following them,
it’s a special element of Kiarostami which he used often in his films, for instance in “The wind will carry us” (1999), when an engineer and the doctor going on the bike an discusses about that old lady’s illness and the doctor t said that “Death is the worst” and appreciating the beautiful
present life and the world. In the background of that conversation, the strong significance of wind represented in a very spiritual image was easily inevitable in that particular scene. The idea of life was very easy rather than implementing it in practice and to portray that life into the frame
was a big challenge.
It was not a film demand to consider on a surface level, but to understand the setting, plot, and characters, the director needs to know each and everything inside and outside of the final image. Kiarostami was showing that divine afar dynamic by looking outside of the car window, his protagonist always watching outside, and very often it’s the director’s invitation to see the frame through human life. There’s a socio-economical life of then Iran around Mr. Badii in the film, “Taste of Cherry” (1997) and people are working in their own space when the protagonist asked for something during the journey. These all are the subtle and yet powerful image of human life which was beyond that frame or image, but the director knew all about it and it’s the work for the audience to find those grounded belongings and solve the basic mystery of life.
Still alive in a form of his art
“A beautiful body perishes, but a work of art dies not”. This quote belongs to Leonardo da Vinci, but the realm of that line is beyond any truth in this world. Abbas Kiarostami was that artist whose art is still there for us in the form of mirror to find our truth inside this noisy place in which we’re suffering and sometimes living too. He was definitely an artist who redefined cinema in his own way, the art of storytelling, treating the film dynamics and recreation of realities, each of them was the primary elements in his style of filmmaking. There are three fundamental elements in our nature, Love, life and death and his films were all about them and that was he wanted to show always, the nature itself, as the truth of life. The whole conclusive idea of his entire filmography is revolving around those truthful arts. It all definitely came with his philosophy about human existence, to understand the energy equation between characters and
emotion which drives any authentic story, similarly in life also, realities created by that energy, even though it happened by just like that. This recreation of reality is what cinema is all about for him, the art is something called creation and he was creating those magical experiences in which audience finds themselves inside the opposite screen or the energetic image, solving those basic puzzles somewhere between the recreations, because “Question marks are the punctuation of life”.
Note: This analysis paper was written in November 2020 as part of the Film Theory and Criticism subject for the Master’s in Mass Communication programme at Symbiosis International University in Pune.
