Reviews of The House is Black
Displaying all 2 reviews
Evnad
2Feb12
Clocking at just 20 minutes, this film probably competes with the Satantangos and Shoahs of cinema in providing us a true glimpse into the human condition. A very grotesque representation of pain and consequent ugliness of the world towards people who are different. It probes into the deepest and darkest corners of humanity’s crisis. How is it to be a social outcast? A leper to be exact? Not since Bergman’s Cries and Whispers have I been forced to confront the most painful truths of this world. Full of pathos and dense with meditative themes, The House is Black allowed me (even for a brief moment) to contemplate on the meaning of existence itself.
- Currently 5.0/5 Stars.
Sudarshan R.
10Nov09
Some people refer to this movie as the greatest moment in Iranian cinema. It’s a weighty baggage to attach on such a simple, compassionate film. Forugh Farrokhzad was a major Iranian poet of the 20th Century and this short non-fiction essay film on a leper colony is her sole contribution to the art of moving pictures. Her spirit and capacity to depict the humanity of these people and to show the beauty of their humanity is without parallel in cinema. Cassavetes noted that his film, A Child is Waiting failed because he wanted to emphasize that the adjustment was not conditional to the physically and mentally disabled but in fact the work of the “normal” citizens of society. Among the many vast differences between that film and The House Is Black is this basic worldview expressed in her film.