The Bird May Die

" THE BIRD MAY DIE " is a decent movie with a powerful story which is lost in production . This film plays too long.  While there is very much a human and personal story, full of cultural references and ideas which need their time, a running length of about two hours is still too much.  There are long scenes which do not seem to fully serve the film as efficiently as they could. There are moments which could be edited out, and I do not think the story would be compromised at all.  I also have to point out something about the acting , which communicates to the viewer that perhaps these are people new to acting.  In scenes of emotional intensity (the opening, Sima's anger with Sara over the internet usage via 'a kiss'), one of the two people provides the intensity while the other seems overly passive, as if they have no reason to engage or be engaged by, the other person's flaring emotional state.  The implication is that the cast lacks empathy for what's going with those around them, and that hampers the story of Sima's flight; the agreement with Shirin or Sanaiee; or Saeed's devotion.  I also wonder what the intended age for Sara is, because the characterization comes across as someone who seems to me to be younger than the actor portraying her.  Still, the strength of the film ends up being Sima, and I found myself liking her more and more as the film progressed.  I wished the story began and ended with her, so that I felt is was much more her story, because I felt she should have been clear focus throughout.  I think these concerns might be well addressed through some reconsidered editing, because the more I lost myself in Sima's story, the less the other issues were of concern to me. I gave eight stars, not for the movie but for Sima's character.

For those who know the poems of Forough Farrokhzad on the one hand and the traces of literature in the films of Hamid Tamjidi on the other hand, the title of this film - The bird may die - gives clues to its theme.

The night in the poem is a symbol of sadness and despair. Forough say about being alone in a dark family life. She describes the loneliness of a woman after her divorce. Sima's character - the film's central character - is a face of Forough's loneliness and sadness. She was alone in her family life. For 15 years, her husband, drunk and addicted, beat and humiliated her. Sima endured this situation because of Sarah. But now Sara is also misbehaving with her mother. She calls Sima as slave and servant and even goes further and says "My father was right. Your way of life was wrong". All these wounds increase the weight of Sima's loneliness and despair to the point where she tells Shirin, "If I go back to the past with my current wisdom, I will never have a child".

Relationships can be like a light to the world and to people, but relationship lights seem to be dark. No doors open for Sima, so the lights of her relationships go out one after another. Her husband is a drug addict. His daughter disobeys. Her brother is an abuser. Her father is ashamed to introduce Sima as his daughter. He tells Sanaei that Sima is his relative. Perhaps Tamjidi deliberately chose the name Sanaei for the Sanaei character. "Sana" means light, but its luminosity is less than light. Sanaei could be the light of the relationship for Sima. In the scene where he is swinging in nature, he introduces Sima to the sun and invites him to the sparrow party and says to him "come sit down for a minute and enjoy this beautiful weather and the birdsong". He hosts Sima and provides him with a car, a cell phone, a job and a house. He could be a light in the darkness of Sima's relationships, but it was a vain hope.

Poetry and film are excerpts from life and death/love and despair. The heart of love is freedom and forgiveness, otherwise it is considered a mental illness. It is only through correct human relations that the concept of love will spread and become a common thing among humans. Perhaps the task of the artist is to expand the common spirit of love. As the story progresses, Sarah reaches a level of this common spirit, she says to her mother, "I'm ready to do anything for you." If the role of the artist is to identify the real and common pains of society and make them known to all in an appropriate artistic format, Forough and Tamjidi, each of them has played this role in their medium. Their message can be freedom and liberation.

"The Bird May Die" is a foreign language film (in Farsi, I believe) that follows a woman and her teenage daughter who have emigrated  to Canada in an attempt to flee her abusive husband.  The director follows his main characters without resorting to melodrama.   Instead, he allows the screenplay to unfold at a steady pace, resulting in a measured film that avoids sensationalism until some wild plot developments late in the proceedings.   The film's technical aspects are all first rate.    It is well photographed and edited, and all of the actors deliver competent, though not exceptional, performances.    Some of the subtitles are poorly translated, using incorrect grammatical phrases and words not spelled correctly.   The relationship between the main character and her daughter is the center of the film, and their tension filled exchanges are realistic.   Despite its excessive length (118 minutes), I was able to remain interested in the characters, and was invested in the outcome of the plot.

"The Bird May Die" is a  compelling narrative. I found myself glued to the screen, wanting every part of the story to be clear to me. Well done! There are a few technical short-comings I feel I must mention though. The subtitles go by a little too quickly for my liking, but they are very clear. There are a few translation problems. I only mention this problem because it takes away the viewers focus on the real heart of the film. For example at 29:26 the subtitle is "sweetheart" instead of sweetheart as it appears several times later. The general locations for filming highlight a budget issue, perhaps more footage outside the two houses and local shopping area could have been introduced. Melika Pirozan and Mojgan Baghi do a fine job with their roles but some of the others acting is marginal. Your camera work is fair but the cinematography left me feeling a bit cramped. The sound was good and the story, your high point in my opinion, was clear and well developed.     I enjoyed your film and will recommend it to my friends if it is shown here. It is very international in scope and gives the viewers a broader understanding of the life concerns, style and matters of importance outside the local viewers sphere. Thank you for this journey of new understanding.

it is a very bad written movie with many many mistakes in filmography and scenario. I felt so bad in the middle of watching it but I had to watch to see how they end this really unprofessional "movie"! It is talking about some laws in Iran which do not exist, shamelessly saying things about the sexual harassment in Iran but exaggerating to get some sorts of award from it!. It is nice to imitate Asghar Farhadi as the biggest director in Iran, but don't do this if you can't. If you can't make a movie, please stop and simply don't make one. I was ashamed in front of my friends who watched it with me, so embarrassed. Still, can't believe they are showing it in different cities and now I see it's rated 8 (probably with the votes of friends and families!). If it was me in charge, I would hire someone to write something for me that is not as stupid as the scenario was. I would hire some actors who can really act! I would think even for 1 minute about the ending! And, of course, I'm not a movie maker or a director of any kind (just like this movie's crew), I wouldn't even start making that movie in the first place. I can't even call it a movie, that's how much I am embarrassed.