It's the eve of the Iranian New Year in Tehran. Seven-year-old Razieh (Aida Mohammadkhani) and her mother are shopping in a market when Razieh sees a goldfish for sale in a bowl and is immediately captivated with it. She then, of course, nags her very reluctant mother about it until Mum's patience is finally worn thin and she gives Razieh a banknote to go and buy the goldfish herself. While doing so, Razieh loses the money twice, first in an encounter with a snake charmer and then when she accidentally drops the note through a grate at the entrance of a closed shop. Still undeterred, Razieh now enlists her older brother Ali (Mohsen Kalifi), who she bribes with a reward of a balloon, and a young Afghan balloon-selling street vendor, to help her retrieve the cash and thus pay for her coveted goldfish.
This was my first film of 2021 and what a gem it is to start the year with. The White Balloon won the Camera d'Or award at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival for debut director Jafar Panami, and I think deservedly so. It's a slow but charming and ultimately very touching little movie and I was the exact same age when it was made as the two main children in it, so despite being a Westerner maybe that's why I connected with it as much as I did. Panami and screenwriter Abbas Kiarostami, who was already a celebrated Iranian filmmaker, also manage to make this seemingly wholesome and innocent fable into a sharp allegorical statement about globalisation and cultural imperialism. They also wisely inject it with a very populated, vibrant vibe, with numerous other characters who come and go (most notably a mournful Iranian soldier).
Panami, who edited the movie as well, also nurtures natural, realistic performances from his mostly non-professional cast, and Farzad Jadat's understated photography fits the location, occasion and narrative mood like a glove. The White Balloon is one I really doubt you'll want to pop.
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