Out of all the films from the “Iranian New Wave: 1962-79” sidebar that I saw at MIFF this year, I think director Bahman Farmanara's “Tall Shadows of the Wind” was probably my favourite of the lot. The film is a symbolic tale of villagers terrorised by a scarecrow they themselves have planted, but it is really a story about superstition, ritual, rumour and power. While I thought the film was fantastic, I will admit that there were some times I was baffled as to what exactly was happening, so I am not going to sit here and say I understood the film completely, but I will say that at all times I was impressed with the level of film making on display in “Tall Shadows of the Wind”.
The film begins with the local bus driver finishing his route and coming home to his village. Below him in the meadow is the large scarecrow that the farmers have erected to scare away the birds from eating their crops. The large wooden structure stands like a cross, dressed in a shirt, with two chickens hanging from each “arm”. The head of the scarecrow, however, has no features. It is just round, and wrapped in a white sheet. During a moment of boredom, our bus driver heads down to the scarecrow and draws a face on it, while giving it his cap, and this is where the trouble begins for the village. Now that the scarecrow has a face, they believe that he is now alive or at the very least, he has become a sentient being. People start feeling uneasy around the scarecrow, and when an elderly woman has an epileptic fit in close proximity to it, it doesn't take long before the rumours begin that the scarecrow was the cause of it. A couple more incidents happen around or near the scarecrow and it soon becomes something to fear or something to worship for the farmers, depending on where their beliefs may fall. The bus driver thinks this is ridiculous; it is a piece of wood, that he happened to draw a face on, how can it have any power over the people? He tries to enlist his childhood friend, who is a teacher, to help destroy the scarecrow, who explains to the driver that while it may not have any real power, due to the locals superstitions and beliefs the scarecrow does now have some sort of power over these people. They decide it is best to destroy it at night, however when they attempt to do so, one of them receives a nasty leg wound in the attempt before they realise that the scarecrow itself is missing. Has it come to life or is someone using the scarecrow to cause fear and panic amongst the locals for their own benefit?
This was such an interesting film in the way it examined the rituals and superstitions of a community and how these can change via the smallest things. Essentially the scarecrow is a tool used in farming, but once it was perceived to be real, these villagers are either praying at home in fear, hoping they do not become a victim of it, whilst other people are praying at its feet, hoping for a blessing, while leaving offerings for it. Furthermore the talk, gossip, innuendo and rumour spoken amongst the locals only serves to give the inanimate object even more power.......all while it is sitting there doing nothing. One scene that shows this is during a sequence that takes place at a women's public bath where a mother is taking her teenage daughter for a wash. The other ladies there mention amongst themselves how the young girl's breasts have grown, so they conclude she must be secretly pregnant. Soon after, a woman known to do abortions is seen going towards the bathhouse by the teacher's wife, which then changes the talk that the young teenage girl was secretly having an abortion. When the abortionist is then later seen near the scarecrow, the talk goes further to insist that the aborted baby was used as a sacrifice to appease the scarecrow so he will leave them all alone. The talk is madness, and the teacher is shocked that his own wife has a part of this ridiculous talk, but again, this rumour gives the scarecrow even more power over the locals.
So where does the real power lie? To be honest, we never find out but it is alluded to that some nefarious people are indeed using the scarecrow to cause fear amongst the villagers for their own benefit. We often see a mouth of a cave, complete darkness inside, and laughter coming from within at the mayhem they are causing, but we never find out their true identity. There are times during “Tall Shadows of the Wind” when it plays like a horror movie including a fantastic sequence involving the teacher's family who start hearing thumping noises outside their house. His wife automatically assumes its the scarecrow (you can feel the teacher rolling his eyes at his wife), but there is definitely something outside making a thump, and then the creepy shadows on the walls begin. Eventually the teacher goes out to examine, along with the family dog, and to check that everything is locked which it is. Suddenly he realises the dog is gone and when he finds it, it has sadly been killed. It is actually a very chilling scene, so brilliantly done with fantastic use of shadows, rain, music and suspense. The other brilliant horror moment is the one where they attempt to burn down the scarecrow, and one of them gets a very nasty leg wound. Later on, as a result of the leg wound, the teacher calls a doctor for his friend, who is diagnosed with gangrene in his injured leg. The doctor says that the leg must be amputated or the driver will die, however the driver refuses to lose his leg. Why you may ask? Because by losing his leg, he will then have just the one left, like the scarecrow himself has. The doctor is horrified by this answer and angrily storms out telling them never to call for him again.
Hopefully this does not sound too perverted, but “Tall Shadows of the Wind” is also significant, because it has the first scene of onscreen female nudity I have ever seen in an Iranian film, which was something I never, ever expected to see. The moment takes place in the bath house scene, where the nudity is clearly not of a sexual nature. As the mother and teenage daughter enter, there is another woman with a towel around her waist, brushing her wet hair, with her breasts reflected in the mirror in front of her. The moment is one of absolute chaste, but I was so shocked to see it in a film from Iran, which shows just how different films were in the country before the Islamic Revolution.
From a technical standpoint, “Tall Shadows of the Wind” has been spectacularly put together with the cinematography from Ali Reza Zarrindast just gorgeous. His photography of the village landscapes are breathtaking, the night time horror scene that took place in the forest was stunning, and the use of colour throughout makes the film mesmerising to the eye. Director Bahman Farmanara tells his story slowly and quietly, relying on sounds and shadows to bump up the scare factor, rather than going the cheesy route and involving the scarecrow himself, which is rarely seen. I know that some people had an issue with the music score and felt it too intrusive or obvious, but personally I thought it worked well in the film (but I know nothing about music, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.)
Overall, I was so impressed by Bahman Farmanara's “Tall Shadows of the Wind” even though I didn't understand it completely and I am sure some of the allegorical moments or symbolism within it went over my head at times. That said, what I did understand, I absolutely loved and the main allegory of something that is meant to protect its people but instead terrorises and oppresses them was not lost on me. The first thing I thought when “Tall Shadows of the Wind” finished was “Man, I would love to watch that again”, and hopefully I am able one day to do just that.
4 Stars.
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