Relections on the film “Where is the friend’s home”

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The film is among the top ten in the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14

The 50 films you should see by the age of 14 is a list created by the British Film Institute in 2005 to inspire parents and educators to take movies as seriously as books and other forms of art. It was created by more than 70 experts including film producers, teachers, authors and critics who all made their own top ten."

The film “Where is the friend’s home” first appealed to me with the poster showing a Middle-East boy staring intently at something with his big, thick-lashed eyes. The boy is Ahmed, who seems to have a worried look on his face almost throughout the entire film. The story guides us through his long search for his friend’s home, undergoing great difficulties and suffering from setbacks and disappointments, in repeated attempts to give him back his notebook. His expressionless face seems the appropriate manifestation of his feelings and moods. 

The story takes place in the mountainous Northern Iran. It begins with a number of school kids seated at long tables with hardly enough elbow room in a small crammed classroom. Tables are also lacking in the home as every one of the kids is seen bending over his notebook on the floor. Socks with holes also suggest material inadequacy. While these may be familiar phenomena to the native audience, Non-Iranians like myself cannot help being greatly impressed by the region’s rural poverty and underdevelopment.

Another focus of the story, probably a more important one, is the authoritative parenting or teaching style. In fact, all adults seem to command respect and attention from the children, who are held in low regards and whose words are often left unheeded. If Ahmed’s mother had cared to listen to him, she could have understood his urgent need and might even have helped him with the proper route to his friend’s home, thus avoiding his waste of time and efforts. His grandmother, too, kept reminding him to take his shoes off before going upstairs and turned a deaf ear to his request. A window maker, heedless of his repeated question, made him run breathlessly after him all the way up and down a hill only to find out that he was not his friend’s dad.

In addition, there is a demand for strict discipline. The teacher is very particular about proper homework submission, threatening to expel a boy, who is Ahmed’s friend, if he forgets his notebook again. But good discipline is expected not only in school. Ahmed’s grandpa, for example, shares with a friend that his own father could neglect his meals but would never forget to beat him up once a week just to remind him of the importance of discipline. 

All these details could have contributed to a tragedy about an unhappy boy.  Nevertheless, the eight-year-old boy is by no means a miserable character in the story. He runs errands for his parents and helps babysitting his sister without a word of complaint. And most importantly, he is a true friend to a classmate, willing to do anything to get him out of trouble. In fact, he is a hero, displaying stubborn determination to accomplish his task, unbeaten by obstacles and frustrations. 

I doubt whether such a beautiful friendship is due only to the rural simplicity of their living environment. Would true friendship be a rarity in our modern materialistic world? Would our kids today even laugh at Ahmed’s folly in making all those tiresome journeys for something so simple as a notebook?

In all cases, this is an excellent movie worth watching more than once. Though it may not convey a very inspiring message , it can at least reawaken our appreciation for true friendship and simplicity of life.