The setting is a small town in Iran, close to the border with Afghanistan. Lateef works on a building site, and he becomes jealous of a young Afghani refugee worker, Rahmat, who does the job better than he does. At first, he takes out his spite and even racism against Rahmat and his father, but then he discovers, to his amazement, that 'Rahmat' isn't a young man, as he'd assumed, but a young woman.
Baran – the title means 'rain', but it's also the name of the young woman – was directed by Majid Majidi, who made The Color Of Paradise, and it's another very beautiful, deceptively simple, film from Iran. It's a plea for understanding, for the tolerance of refugees, a message that certainly needs reinforcing in today's Australia, and the non-professional actors give completely convincing performances. Baran deservedly won the prize for Best Film at Montreal two years ago, and it's a find addition to the growing numbers of quality films from Iran.
