User reviews

Although not as well-known as her male counterparts--Kiarostami, Majidi, Makhmalbaf--Rakhshan Bani Etemad is not only one of the best filmmakers in Iran, but also one of the bravest. Unlike her largely depoliticized colleagues, Bani Etemad tackles issues that are either taboo (a love affair) or neglected (the mothers of Iran-Iraq War) in Iranian society. Gilaneh, although as engaged politically as anything else, also works as great drama, an emotional depiction of a mother who suffers the greatest punishment after war: taking care of shell-shocked and invalid son. The change that the mother undergoes between the war in '88 and the Iraqi war 15 years later is nothing short of astounding, and many praises to Madjid Bahrami who played Gilaneh. The final image of the mother is quite possibly one of the most emblematic images in cinema today.