Directed by Abbas Kiarostami
Review by Shannon Scott Stebbins
On the list of difficult and awkward things to do, driving around and randomly finding someone to assist in your suicide has to rank pretty high.
In the 1997 film “Taste of Cherry”, directed by Abbas Kiarostami, an Iranian man who would like to take his own life that evening, is looking for someone to help him by covering his body with dirt the following sunrise. So he drives around Iran searching for the right person. Or anyone who was willing to say “yes”. The film primarily takes places in his SUV. That’s it. Those looking for visual stimulation, a wham bam emotional bodice ripper or humor should stay far away from this selection on the foreign film shelf at your local video store. “Taste of Cherry”, the 1997 Cannes Film Festival winner of the Golden Palm has been called everything from deep, impacting to excruciatingly boring.
Recently, I didn’t know Kiarostami from Sashimi. While attending a screenwriting workshop in Wilmette, Illinois, screenwriter and professor Gordy Hoffman told those in attendance that if they want great story served simple they should rent any film by Kiarostami.
Hoffman had thrown me a curve ball. Always in search of good storytellers, I had never come across the Steven Spielberg of Iran. Shortly after the workshop, I Googled Kiarostami and read an interview with the director. In response to a question about him being an artist, he humbly replied, “I don’t think of myself as an artist, rather someone who engages in art.” I wanted to see the work of this legendary director.
Knowing his films are simple, I put on my patience and tolerance filter and detoxed from having recently seen an American summer blockbuster. It is easy to see why critics would marvel or snore at “Taste of Cherry.” The opening frame consists of Mr. Badii, played by Homayoun Ershadi, sitting somewhat unaffectedly in his SUV while driving around. The film doesn’t get much more exciting than that.
However, anticipation and judgment can sometimes get in the way of some subtle treasures Kiarostami sprinkles within the frame. He comes upon some Iranian children playing on a truck. They are cute. They smile. In the background, we see an industrial pasture just outside of Tehran, with enormous machines and laborers scattered throughout. It is an undisclosed holiday. Workers are slamming and lifting. At one point, Mr. Badii’s truck gets stuck in a steep embankment. Workers flock to his truck, laughing and committed to getting this stranger out of a jam. Brutal conditions and dry dirt stain their worn faces. But in this moment, they are there to save someone’s truck and gladly depart from their jobs to push Mr. Badii back onto the road.
Ershadi is a handsome actor, with black hair combed straight back, deep features and a hint of wisdom in his eyes. He reminds me of Andy Garcia.
Mr. Badii befriends a young Kurdish soldier. He asks him questions and reflects on his own service in the military, the best time of his life. At one point Badii offers him a lot of money for a job he won’t disclose until they drive off to far away spot. For the soldier, and the viewer, this is not a comfortable moment. Will he sexually proposition this young man? The soldier is shy but willing to drive along the distant open road. The soldier wants to get out, but he doesn’t.
They come upon on a patch of land. He conveys his plans to the young man: he intends to take a surplus of sleeping pills, lay down in the human body shaped hole and die. All the soldier has to do is come at 6am and call his name. If he does not reply, he is to cover his body with dirt. He offers the soldier 200,000 Tomans, the equivalent of just over twenty American dollars. Badii tells the solider that a “Kurd has to be brave.”
The boy runs.
Why not just commit suicide out in the country? Why pull someone else into it?
He comes upon a security guard shabbily dressed while perched atop a small watchtower. He is there protecting trucks weighing several tons, which are taking the weekend off. He asks the man to leave his post on this holiday and join him for a ride. After some small talk, Badii outlines his plans to the guard and tells him he has “decided to free himself from this world.” The Afghani man refers to being a Muslim and that “God entrusts a man’s body to him.” Badii asks him to be a “true Muslim and help him.” While he does not say he will not help, the two men engage in a discussion about life, religion and choices. The guard tells Badii that suicide is wrong. Badii, defending his unwavering plan, says, “suicide is one of the deadly sins, but that being unhappy is a great sin too.”
Strike two.
Candidate number three is an old man on his way to a museum where he works. Badii sells him his idea. The old man talks about when he tried to kill himself by tying a rope around a tree. While on the tree, he eats one of the mulberries. Pure succulence. Some local school children come by and ask the man about to end his life to shake the tree so they can have some of the delicious fruit. Helping the young kids made the old man happy. He went home and enjoyed a bowl full of mulberries with his wife. He was saved.
Unmoved, Badii asks the old man if he will help him carry out his plan. The man agrees. Almost sensing that Badii too will get saved, he tells him he will be at the spot at 6am and will throw rocks at him to make sure the deed is done. After Badii drops the old man off at the museum, he returns shortly after to make sure the old man will do his part. The man says that he will not let Badii down even if he is beheaded for his actions.
The moment has come. Badii is lying in the hole. Lightening is flashing dark and light upon his face, staring up at the beautiful sky. Then the most unexpected ending occurs. Much criticism and accolades have been poured on Kiarostami for his choice of some of his film’s endings. Rather than try to explain, he repeats what most true artists say to questionable decisions in their work: it’s your choice. I used to be adamant about endings. Don’t drag me along to not give me the payoff I deserve. I have come to realize that the beauty of an ending is the end, not the affect.
There likely will not be an American remake of “Taste of Cherry”, about a man searching for someone to help him die starring Will Smith. However this film did what it needed to do. It provoked questions and dialogue about mortality, Iran, Muslim belief, creepy moments, a head-scratching ending and the voice of a truly distinctive director.
As for whether this film is any good? I am not a critic, just a reviewer. You decide.
