The Wind Will Carry Us – Criterion

Director: Abba Kiarostami
Screenplay: Abbas Kiarostami
Based on an Idea by: Mahmoud Aiden
Starring: Behzad Dorani, Farzad Sohrabi, Noghre Asadi, Roushan Karam Elmi, Bahman Ghobadi
Year: 1999
Country: Iran, France
BBFC Certification: TBA
Duration: 118 min

When film-lovers discuss the greatest individual years for cinema, one that often comes up is 1999. Whilst the traditionalist in me likes to point towards dates in the 30s, 60s and 70s instead, I can’t argue that the final year of the 20th Century didn’t bear forth a wealth of cracking films. It was a formative year for me too, as I was 16-17 years old and getting properly into films at the time. So, I have fond memories of watching titles like Fight Club, Being John Malkovich, The Matrix, Toy Story 2, Magnolia, Election, The Blair Witch Project, The Virgin Suicides etc…

However, as usual with discussions like this, films made outside of the USA are often forgotten, which is partly why I believe the 60s, with its various international New Waves, is ripe with great cinematic years, even though Hollywood felt like it was floundering in the middle of that decade. 1999 was certainly not without its foreign-language gems though. The year gave us Claire Denis’s exquisite Beau Travail, Tom Tykwer’s exuberant Run Lola Run, The Dardenne’s harrowing Rosetta, Pedro Almodóvar’s All About My Mother and many other films that deserve as much praise as their American counterparts.

One director who had enjoyed critical praise for his work throughout the 1990s was Abbas Kiarostami. He’d begun the decade with the highly respected Close-Up, followed this with the final two parts of his Koker Trilogy and later the Palme d’Or-winning Taste of Cherry (shared with The Eel). But Kiarostami had one last masterpiece up his sleeve, to top out the decade and add to the veritable pile of cinematic gems 1999 had to offer, with The Wind Will Carry Us.

The Wind Will Carry Us, which is being released on Blu-ray by The Criterion Collection, centres around a Tehrani journalist, Behzad (Behzad Dorani), who arrives in a remote Kurdish village in Iran with his crew, all posing as engineers. In actual fact, they’re anticipating the death of an elderly woman, with the hope of documenting the traditional self-mutilation mourning rituals that take place in the village.

However, the woman stubbornly clings to life, forcing the impatient journalist to wait. During this extended stay, Behzad’s urban sensibilities clash with the rhythms and realities of rural life. He struggles with intermittent mobile phone reception, which requires him to drive to a hilltop cemetery, leading to strange encounters and conversations with unseen locals.

As days turn into weeks, Behzad gradually becomes more involved in the village’s daily life, forming unexpected connections and gaining a new perspective on existence, death, and the enduring spirit of the community.

The Wind Will Carry Us is a subtly self-reflexive film, seemingly exploring Kiarostami’s own practices, as he endeavours to capture ‘real life’ in his work. It seems to be slightly critical of his approach, which adds a sly layer of self-deprecating humour. Behzad is there to supposedly document these people and seems interested in their lives but, more often than not, it feels like he’s in the way.

Though perhaps unknowingly so, Behzad also occasionally disrespects the wishes and beliefs of the villagers. For instance, he’s constantly disrupting the studies of his young guide Farzad. There’s some telling symbolism later on when Behzad tips a tortoise on its back and leaves it there. This seems to be suggesting the presence of these curious outsiders is disrupting the village. Thankfully, the creature manages to turn itself back over, in the same way that life will carry on as normal for the village, once the journalists have gone.

Kiarostami manages to capture what seems like ‘real life’ though. It was shot on location in an actual village where the self-mutilation mourning rituals take place. Only minor changes were made to the setting – a little paint here and there, and the reshuffling of items/animals in shot. Actual locals make up much of the cast too. This reportedly proved difficult, as they wouldn’t sit still. They always had things to do.

Women worked particularly hard in the village, and that’s explored in the film. One woman is even shown working with her baby on her back, only a day after it was born. One key female role reportedly had to be cast from a nearby town, as it was too difficult to find a woman on location who had the time to be on set that often.

As usual, Kiarostami’s style is simple but elegantly beautiful. He likes to use a fixed camera, with pans and tilts, rather than complex crane or dolly shots. In an interview on the disc, he claims one of the few dolly shots in the film was only put there to give the team something to do, as they had brought more grip crew than required.

Away from this anomaly, Kiarostami lets the characters and natural world bring shots alive. This is where the film shines. Kiarostami likes to capture life on screen, rather than producing what he describes as ‘canned’ cinema. He keenly and sensitively observes the lives of these people who seem to be from a different world than their city-dwelling neighbours.

Unlike the ‘gritty’ social dramas of the English-language speaking film scene, however, Kiarostami takes a poetic approach to his subject matter, suggesting meaning through compelling cinematic techniques, rather than spelling things out. It does this without feeling forced or unnaturally ‘artsy’. We’re still observing what seems like real life in the village, but this is presented in a gentle, poetic fashion.

This approach leads to a more open-ended film than some might feel comfortable with. In an interview on the disc, Kiarostami talks about how he likes his audience to ask questions after his films have finished. He doesn’t think people need to ‘understand’ them, so to speak. He sees this sense of questioning and guessing as being more fulfilling than having everything answered for you. Instead, he merely points to different ideas to allow you to form your own opinions.

Whilst this might suggest the film is a puzzling slog that goes nowhere, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Its naturalistic approach allows for a deeply human film, where warmth, humour and unforced philosophy draw you in and hold you there.

Yes, perhaps The Wind Will Carry Us is a film that requires some time to process and reflect on what you’ve seen, but it remains eminently watchable and understatedly beautiful. It’s another strong argument for 1999 being one of the best years for cinema.

Film:

The Wind Will Carry Us is out on 5th May on Blu-Ray in the UK, released by The Criterion Collection. The transfer is gorgeous, with a stunningly detailed image and natural colours and textures. The audio is pristine too.

Disc/Package:

Where to watch The Wind Will Carry Us