Homework

The Iranian documentary Mashgh-e Shab (1989) was shown in the U.S. with the translated title Homework. It was written and directed by Abbas Kiarostami.

Kiarostami is a great documentary director. I think he's almost at the level of Frederick Wiseman. However there are important differences between Wiseman and Kiarostami.

Wiseman never appears onscreen in his movies. Kiarostami is on the screen constantly. He's the one who asks the children each question. Wiseman lets the camera roll, records what he sees and hears, and presents us with the edited version of reality. Kiarostami continually (too often) shows us the cinematographer at work, reminding us that we're watching something that isn't organic. Both filmmakers create a reality, but Wiseman is subtle, and Kiarostami isn't.

The movie is dated 1989, but it was certainly produced earlier, because there are references to the Iran-Iraq war, which ended in 1988. It may have been made earlier than the great film Where is the Friend's House? (Where is the Friend's House is dated 1987.)

In any case, both movies feature the question of homework, and its importance in the Iranian educational system.

In this documentary, Kiarostami interviews about 20 first- and second-grade students, mostly about homework. He's especially interested in why they often don't finish their homework. Some of their answers are probably self-serving, but most of their answers appear genuine.

In the first place, about 1/3 of the students have parents who are illiterate. For many of the literate parents, the "new math" is beyond their comprehension. And, of course, the parents are tired from work and from caring for their large families. (Most of the children have multiple siblings.) Often the students get help from distant relatives. One child is helped by the landlord's daughter. One child is helped by his sister. He has scratch marks on his face. He tells matter-of-factly tells Kiarostami that his sister scratched him.

The problem is that teachers aren't interested in excuses. They're interested in homework. One student, who clearly has mental health issues, was punished by his first-grade teacher, who hit him so hard with a ruler that the ruler broke.

Most of the children expect punishment when they don't do their schoolwork. They get hit in school, and they get hit at home. (Often with a belt.) They are matter of fact about this.

The movie is enlightening, but very sad. My hope is that these children, who were becoming literate, would treat their children better than they were treated. However, I have no way to know if this is true.

We saw this film as an extra on the same Criterion DVD as Where is the Friend's House. It will work independently, but I'm sure that some people will find it boring or excessive. However, clearly most people enjoyed it--it has an very high IMDb rating of 7.9. I rated it 9.

Kiarostami exposes some of the hardships of being a young student in Iran. With a few simple shots and a few basic questions, he manages to sketch out both the problems and the joys of childhood.

Kiarostami (playing himself, or simply "playing director") sets up his camera for a few days in a grade school in order to find out about children and their attitudes and struggles with homework. Kids of every personality (from hyper to shy, bragging to quiet) all felt the need to lie about the importance of homework in their life. We laugh each time a young interviewee tells a small fib and says they prefer the difficulty of their homework to watching cartoons after school. But often the truth of the matter is they reason they struggle with their homework is because both parents might be illiterate, or older brothers and sisters provide little support as well. Homework often takes a back seat to the reality of life for these children who are torn between the obligations of being a child and the obligations of being an active member of a family struggling to make ends meet.

An excellent little film - hard-going for the the impatient moviegoer who might need EVERYTHING spelled out for him/her, but for the rest of us, it's a joy to pull out the many meanings and truths embedded in this film.

The point that amazes me is the power of Kiarostami's films to make you smile, laugh, or cry at the same time. I can sense many more emotions in the movie because I speak Persian, and I'm glad that Kiarostami and I speak the same language. I suggest that all of you also watch "Where is the Friend's House" movie. At the end of seeing these movies by Kiarostami, you are happy that you didn't waste your time, and I think that is because he shoots from the heart. The depth and sincerity in Kiarostami's films truly touch the soul and leave a lasting impact. I highly recommend exploring his filmography to experience the magic of his storytelling and filmmaking.

In 'Homework' Kiarostami, interviews children on their personal opinions to homework. It is a great documentary, funny, sweet, and so easy to watch. Kiarostami literally films the children and interviews them and that's it, but by doing this he captures the children in such a great way that you wonder that Truffaut, is not directing the kids from off camera! The children brim with the kind of charisma that we'd forgot children could do in a film let alone in real life, and seems to seek to remind us what being a child was all about. 'Homework' whilst being a fine film in it's own right also seems to serve as an important precursor for Nicolas Philibert's 2002 documentary on rural school life 'Être et avoir', and provokes the same positive feeling as that film and also of Truffaut's 'L'agent Poche'.

I had the great privilege of being invited with several other students to sample " herbal tea " and documentaries at the home of a university film tutor who we shall call Tony . Ah yes " herbal tea " and I'm educated enough to know what a euphemism is . Tony was a perfect host and as we waited for the herbal tea to brew we stood admiring his book collection . Every book on philosophy was on view as was every book written by every film critic . Tony returned to the living room carrying a tray containing herbal tea and cake to which we helped ourselves . We discussed amid much chin rubbing what documentary we should watch . I was too interested in the herbal tea to take part in the ballot but the students took a vote and it was decided we would watch Abbas Kiarostami's HOMEWORK and I sat back on the sofa waiting for the herbal tea to take effect . Unfortunately I quickly realised two things . Firstly that the "herbal tea " was herbal tea and not cannabis leaves and secondly that HOMEWORK was going to be a rather boring documentary

The documentary gets off to what might be classed as a vaguely interesting start has lines of Persian boys aged about 7 or 8 years old shouting " DOWN WITH SADDAM " which gives you a clue what period it was filmed . It goes down downhill from here though due to Kiarostami insisting on filming the documentary via talking head interviews . Hence we see a male child being asked " Do you do your homework ? " or " Who helps you with your homework ? " or " do you get beaten if you don't do your homework " or " Do you watch cartoons " . This goes on and on ad nuseuem and quickly becomes tedious . It also begs the question as to what the audience are actually learning via these interviews . Is it even revealed what the cartoons are ?

There are some interesting comments such as when a child says his father captured a couple of Iraqi sailors , chopped their heads off and threw their bodies into the sea ( Compare this how Iran presently treats captured sailors ) , the wailing child who hopefully hasn't found courage in the interceding years and is now employed as head of the Iranian army and the father who rambles on and on only stopping to say " Would you like to ask me a question ? " . There's one other interesting point and that is the amount of children who want to become engineers and you can't help wondering if they went on to build a nuclear power plant

But this is a fairly uninteresting and dare I say pointless documentary and I don't want to say anything more positive about it as you may feel as disappointed by it as I was disappointed by Tony's herbal tea . I'll certainly be taking advantage of my host's hospitality in the near future but I doubt if I'll be going out of my way to watch anymore Abbas Kiarostami documentaries