From my programme notes, written in 2014, for theatrical release of the film in the UK. -- E.K.
Seven years before the release of Mohammad Ali Talebi’s
The Boot,
the film which first brought him to international attention, he
directed a puppet road movie, in which a gang of young mice unite
against a vicious cat, whom their parents have given up hope of
defeating. In
The Boot it is real children who are fighting
against the odds – and rather than a vicious cat, it is the crowded
capital of Iran, Tehran, which threatens to overwhelm them.
Most of Talebi’s films about children feature an absent parent or
two. In this case, young Samaneh’s father has died. In a shoe store,
where the girl’s mother stares longingly at a happy couple shopping
together, the gaze not only underlines the absence of her husband, but
also the absence of a father figure in Samaneh’s life. Talebi’s interest
lies in showing how children manage to fill that void.
Samaneh is a war child. The film was produced by Shahed TV (which
translates as Martyr’s TV) whose remit was to depict the lives of those
who lost family members during the eight-year war with Iraq. The heavy
burden on children born during the war is subtly manifested throughout
the film; particularly in one scene which takes place on a public bus,
when a young boy is seen guiding an elderly blind man. These children,
through pure curiosity, resilience and stubbornness are unconsciously
reconstructing a damaged country.
