Cinema
The Cyclist
بایسیکلران
Mohsen Makhmalbaf · 1988
Synopsis
Nasim, an Afghan refugee, earns his living digging wells; his wife is ill, and the hospital threatens to stop treating her for lack of payment. After expedients that fail, pretending to throw himself under a coach, driving a truck for smugglers, he accepts the offer of a huckster: he, who was an endurance champion in Afghanistan, will pedal for seven days and seven nights without stopping, on a vacant lot. Around him, merchants, gamblers and politicians settle in, and each seeks to profit from his suffering.
Context
The film was produced by the foundation for the dispossessed, written, edited and directed by its author, with Moharram Zeynalzadeh in the role of Nasim and music by Majid Entezami. Shot in 1366 and shown in Iran the following year, it marks its author's shift from the film with a message to the film with a question, and it has been read as an allegory of the exploitation of Afghan refugees. Foreign listings date it to 1987, the year of production.
Who it is for
A Persian-language film of about an hour and a half, in colour. It is worth knowing that the hero speaks very little, and that the film depends on the crowd watching him.
Prizes and reception
Prizes for direction and screenplay at the Fajr festival, and the prize for best fiction film at the Hawaii festival in 1991.