Ashk-e sarma

Usually the most engaging war films are the ones that go beyond the battlefield to show the intersections between society and war, and between individuals lives and national destinies. 'The Tear of the Cold' (though I do believe 'Frozen Tears' would have been a more elegant, if not literal, translation) is one such film. For those of us unfamiliar with the details of the Iran-Iraq war, and of the history of the Kurdish people, a slide with this basic history, placed perhaps at the beginning of the film, would have been useful. But the human dimension of the story -- the difficult relationship between a soldier and a shepherdess -- comes through powerfully. The noble soldier is uni-dimensional; it is the novel reading shepherdess who comes across as the more nuanced character, as portrayed by Farahani. The film-maker has been permitted some degree of autonomy to criticize the actions of the army, and to reveal the poignant tragedy of a people caught between two rival armies. A slow film, but a rewarding one.