A semi-autobiographical account of an incident in Makhmalbaf's life when, as a 17-year-old, he stabbed a policeman at a protest rally. Two decades later, he tracks down the policeman he injured in an attempt to make amends.
“We must live, as long as there are trees.” Excluding the countless dynamics the characters play and how they overlap, what I find beautiful is the audience: who is a separate and isolated character purposely set up to be misled and partially confused with how deconstructed the full story truly is. This story and almost juvenile forefront on how youth supposedly blinds how difficult ‘saving mankind’ is— is gradually broken down to such an evoking simplicity, that striving for change is not linear and can always be built upon. What I love about the ending scene is it doesn't hand out a grand answer but instead lets the audience as its own body decipher what ‘saving humanity’ can also mean, not only from the stance of the people but also the side of the law and further government. On layering and reliving this story 20 years later (as well as finding out the directors history in the Iranian revolution), it gives room to show how age and time warps with knowledge. The scene where t
