The Gardener (2012 film)

Synopsis

The film is about an Iranian filmmaker and his son who travel to Israel to learn about the role of religion in the world. While the son goes out to the Wailing Wall, the Dome of the Rock and Christian sites, the father stays at the Bahai gardens to learn about a faith that came out of his own country—Iran. The film is similar to Gabbeh and The Silence in style.

The Gardener is set in the newly recognized UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Bahai World Centre buildings in Haifa and Western Galilee; and in various religious sites in Jerusalem.

Cast and crew

Cast:

Filming locations

Reviews

The Gardener has received mostly positive reviews by all critics and holds an 83% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 64 MetaScore on MetaCritics.

New York Times: “An intimate, discursive inquiry into religious belief that opens to include questions about cinema…Mr. Makhmalbaf doesn’t make that etymological connection explicit in the movie, although as he rambles throughout the Baha’i gardens, his camera inching antlike close to the ground and then soaring birdlike over the grounds, he lyrically joins the spiritual with the terrestrial.�

Hollywood Reporter:The Gardener marks the first time in decades—perhaps since the Iranian Revolution in 1979—that an Iranian filmmaker has shot a movie in Israel, and what it has to say about religion and world peace is as radical a statement as unconventional filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf (The Bicyclist, Kandahar) has ever made...The deep spirituality it discusses so intelligently will appeal to open-minded viewers and should reach beyond festivals via culture channels..." Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter

Variety: "With their civilized discussion and amusing asides about the making and marketing of docus, the Makhmalbafs succeed in entertaining and engaging auds who are interested in the question of why people seek religion, and are willing to listen to all sides of a story." Richard Kuipers, Variety (magazine)

Rotterdam Festival Review: An Iranian master filmmaker and his son roamed around the gardens in Haifa and made their most striking film...Mohsen Makhmalbaf makes unusual films, and this may be his most unusual of all: an Iranian who makes a film in Israel - even those who dont follow the news will realise how usual that is...This is indirectly a story about the history of Iran, where an innocent ‘gardeners faith’ could not remain, and where Makhmalbaf, once a proponent of the Islamic Revolution, is also no longer able to make his films.

Times of India: Exiled from his homeland, Iranian New Wave director Mohsen Makhmalbafs film The Gardener explores how different generations view religion and peace. The film adopts an experimental approach of both father and son conversing while filming each other. -The Times of India

Iranian Icons: This film shows two completely different views on the religion. The director camera tries to portrait the example of two different generation of Iran through this story. -Iranian Icon

Voice of Russia This film speculates the meaning of life and faith." - Swetlana Hochrjakowa, film critic (translated from Russian)

The International Federation of Film Critics "...the most radiant imagery in a Makhmalbaf film since the bright carpets of the nomadic Ghashghai people in the 1996 Gabbeh. Its God in Heaven meets 1950s MGM Technicolor: beauty, beauty, beauty. What Adam and Eve saw before Eve bit into the apple." - Gerald Peary.

The Hindu: The grammar and discourse of this unusual film — driven by a search for peace and understanding — is simultaneously rational, intelligent, poetic, and above all intensely civilised.

Impact

There are several controversies surrounding the film. BBC notes that this is Makhmalbafs most controversial film to date.

Iranian media response

Both official and non-official Iranian media has been following and reporting on the story since Makhmalbaf first announced the film. Press TV, Irans English channel, first reported the film calling him a "fugitive filmmaker". Press TV also ignored the presence of Makhmalbaf as a Jury of the festival and the screening of the film when reporting about the festival. Other local newspapers accused him of selling out to the Bahais and/or the western powers, and claimed that Bahais had bought him a house in France.

Travel to Israel

Iranians are not allowed to travel to Israel and thus Makhmalbaf and his team will be automatically sentenced to five years in prison should they ever return to Iran. The filmmaker also talks about a religion that is a taboo subject in Iran and has its own consequences, such as that received by Shirin Ebadi for taking up the case of this group.

In addition, Mohsens decision to present the film at the Jerusalem Film Festival in contravention of the BDS campaign caused some controversy. An open letter published on Jadaliyya urging him not to attend was signed by many prominent Iranians, including Arash Bineshpajouh, Tina Gharavi, Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Laleh Khalili, Hamid Dabashi, Fatemeh Keshavarz, Ervand Abrahamian, and Asef Bayat. The letter was also critical of Irans state-sponsored oppression of the Baha’i community.

A group of 250 social and cultural activists signed a letter to support him. Many Israelis appreciated the fact that he came and presented his film. Adrina Hoffman of The Nation wrote that what shocked everyone was the fact he kept saying "I love you." The film sold out for its initial screenings and other screenings were scheduled after the festival. Makhmalbaf responded on BBC, saying that boycotts do not change peoples hearts, and dialog is a better way of understanding each other.

Removal from Iranian Cinema Museum

The president of the Iranian film department sent a letter to the head of the Iranian film museum to remove all of Makhmalbafs films from the museums archives because he has travelled to Israel and made a film about a taboo religion.

Due to the treatment Makhmalbaf has received because of traveling to Israel to make this film, Oscar-winner Asghar Farhadi and many other filmmakers are wary of giving their awards to the Iranian Cinema Museum in fear of meeting the same fate.

Screenings and awards

Premieres, awards, special presentations

Official Selections