List Price: $29.95You Pay Only: $26.99 You Save: $2.96 (10%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9781567302684
Format: Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 1567302688
Label: New Yorker Video
Manufacturer: New Yorker Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: New Yorker Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: September 17, 2002
Running Time: 118 minutes
Sales Rank: 35830
Studio: New Yorker Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1999
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
The movies of Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami defy the expectations of anyone raised on Hollywood or even European films. The Wind Will Carry Us, for example, is about a filmmaker who comes to a small village where an old woman is dying, hoping to document a harsh ritual of mourning practiced by the villagers. Unfortunately for him, the invalid clings to life, and he spends most of his time driving up and down a mountainside because his cell phone only gets good reception at the top. But while he waits and frets, around him the life of the village continues, and this vitality--captured in moments that seem like a diversion from the movie's supposed storyline--is fundamentally what The Wind Will Carry Us is about. What seems dull one moment will suddenly become a rich and subtle expression of human behavior. A strikingly different cinematic experience. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A Good Film School Movie
I'll risk sounding pedestrian here. And I am fully aware that most of us in mainstream culture in present times have been spoiled to look at movie as instant gratification entertainment. But there are films that need no dissertation or thesis to admire. And then there are films where one rushes to amazon or cineaste websites, in a feverish anxiety, attempting to discover just what a viewer was supposed to be appreciating in a film he or she just spent 120 minutes moving glaciatically through.
The Wind Will Carry Us belongs to the latter category.
I assess a movie by its sum parts. Can scenes or parts be subtracted with the message intact? In this Kiarostami film, I found I kept subtracting until I finally reached one or two core scenes. The most accessible is the figure of the doctor who travels through the countryside looking at nature. The footage is so gorgeously shot, and the doctor's organic, earthy philosophy is rich to the point that I said, "oh, so THIS is the moment we've been waiting for!"
But what of the 110 minutes leading up to it? It's leisurely and it does capture the slow pace of a small remote village.. The regional light is richly tempered and the labyrinthian passages of the living quarters provides many opportunities for Ozu-inspired shots. The repetitive "pilgrimage" to the top of the mountain is a comedy in itself, worthy of a wireless cell phone commercial one imagines would play in Iran.
I don't want to read too ... Read More
Rating:  - A moving, life-confirming, and soulful comedy.
It is a very interesting and compelling film that on the surface seems to be one of the most boring ever made. "Wind Will Carry Us" tells the story of Behzad, the documentary director, who travels with his crew from Tehran to the tiny remote village of Siah Dareh where they hope to document an ancient funeral ritual. While there, all they can do is wait for an old lady to die and to hope that it would happen sooner than later. The lady does not seem to hurry to meet her Creator. Nothing much happens with the exception of waiting and repetitions of the same conversations on the cell phone with the constant interruption of calls but the honest and poetic celebration of the world around us shines through every frame of this ode to joy of life. One of my friends, who had recommended the movie to me, suggested that it should not be over- aestheticized and I totally agree. The film's serious political and social metaphors and overtones are undeniable but in its core, it is a moving, life-confirming, and soulful comedy. Watching my first Abbas Kiarastami's movie was a very rewarding experience.
Rating: - Deep, mysterious, and poetic....another great Kiarostami film...
Many people who like Kiarostami talk about Taste of Cherry or Close Up when speaking of his work. This film, however, I think is better than those two excellent films. This was the 2nd film of his I saw, and I think it's a masterpiece. It's very funny, poetic, telling, dramatic, and deeply mysterious. There are many choice moments in the film. The fact that many of the characters are never actually seen, only heard is actually fascinating. The lead character has whole conversations with a man digging a trench, even though we never see him. The lead character's constant problems with his cell phone are good, too. But the scene I really like the most is when the lead character buys milk from a local merchant. The merchant's daughter leads the man down into a cave where they keep their cow, and while talking to the daughter, recites a beautiful poem in which the title of the film comes up. There really is no explanation to why the man reads the poem, but it haunts the film. Kiarostami's style is worth noting too. The poem scene is shot in one long, 5 minute take, and many of the other scenes are shot in a long take style that he used for many of his films. It gives the film a very meditative pace, and it works wonderfully. Most Iranians films are very mysterious and ambiguous at times, telling you only bits of what is actually transpiring. All of the ones I've seen have been wonderful, with special mention going to Abbas Kiarostami and Majid Majidi, the two directors I most admire. They ... Read More
Rating: - Unique and Fascinating Cultural Experience
I loved "The Wind Will Carry Us" for many reasons. First, there are two story lines, one is what is happening on the physical plane and the other is a representation of two ideas and ways of living.
The main plot is fairly basic. A man goes to a small village (Siah Dareh) built up against a barren mountainside. This alone is fascinating as you observe a culture and how the people live their daily lives. One of the main things that keeps happening throughout the movie is a cell phone ringing.
Each time the phone rings, the engineer from Tehran (Behzad Dourani) has to get into his car and drive up to higher ground. This is interesting because each time he does this something new happens. It almost becomes a little comical, but the funniest part for me was the relationship between the husband and wife in the teashop. I was amused at how similar relationships are in all cultures and how men and women form a deep bond all while withstanding the daily conflicts seeking to drive us apart.
The movie felt very realistic and didn't seem to follow a script. I loved that aspect and also the conversations between the characters had real heart. Instead of "how are you," "I'm fine," they would say things about wishing each other a long life or luck or the most beautiful comment was about "being in your service." The conversations where very interesting and felt very natural, comforting and at times were profoundly beautiful.
There was a strong community aspect ... Read More
Rating: - this was a good introduction to Iranian cinema
I'm glad this was the first Iranian film I saw. I might have been put off if I had seen Kiarostami's "Taste of Cherry" or Samira Makhmalbaf's "Apple," but thanks to this film I began to acquire a taste for what is surely some of the most interesting filmmaking going on in recent years. One of the finest moments in the film is a subtly erotic moment when the protagonist recites the poem by Forugh Farrokhzad from which the film takes its name to a girl milking an animal (a goat? a cow?). (Farrokhzad - an Iranian feminist poetess who died at age 32 - is very interesting in her own right, and the introduction to her work is another thing I'm grateful to Kiarostami for.)
The pace and style are very similar to those of Gus Van Sant's recent films (e.g., "Gerry"). I personally find this very refreshing.
A minor point: many reviewers refer to "Arabs." In a time when so much is going on in the Middle East, this kind of ignorance is very irritating. Since when is Iran an Arab country? The people depicted are mostly Kurds.
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