Where Is the Friend’s Home? is a 1987 film directed by Abbas Kiarostami. Its title was taken from a Sohrab Sepehri’s poem. It is a simple story about the conscientious schoolboy Ahmed who tries to return friend’s notebook which he mistakenly took one day. If he does not return it, his friend will be expelled from the school. All along the way, he meets adults who are too busy with themselves to offer him help. Even the opposite, instead of helping him, they interfere and block him all the way.
Where Is the Friend’s Home? is a movie about life in Iran with eyes of the children. A movie is also about interaction between children and grown-ups. In addition, the movie shows interaction and relationship between children. It shows how they understand, support and help each other to survive in a world of adults. The purpose of these interactions is to portray and criticize the Iranian society.
During the movie, one can see how it circles around limitations and discipline. It becomes clear that the cultural patterns in Iran feature obeying, discipline and submission (Lustig and Koester, 2009). Especially, it is clear from the context of interaction between adults and children. The main character, schoolboy Ahmed, tries to escape from such limitations to make a good deed, to save his friend from expelling from school. His behavior can be considered heroic because the children are exposed to restrictions more than the others are. This is clearly visible in a family interaction context when Ahmed’s grandfather behaves in a harsh way with the boy while talking about his own father, “My old man gave me a penny and a beating everyday” (Zarrin, 1987). He says, “He sometimes forgot to give me the penny, but the beating. He never forgot to give me the beating” (Zarrin, 1987). One can notice that adults are hard on children in the family and it is clearly visible through the Ahmed’s mother attitude, when she yells at him to obey the orders. She portrayed tired and exhausted woman with three children.
Ahmed’s mother is as strict as his schoolteacher who is represented as an unhappy man, disappointed by his students and dissatisfied with his job. The teacher’s role in the context of interaction between him and his students consists of showing how conformable, submissive and obeying children are expected to be. The elder generation disciplines and traditions make children confined, restricted and emaciated. On the assumption of such attitude and interaction, one can define in common way the Iranian social hierarchy (Lustig and Koester, 2009). According to its traditional tendencies, adults are expected to make all the decisions, while children are expected to obey and help them.
There are many scenes in the movie where adults ignore children. One can also see some child laborer scenes. It is clear that the movie has a degree of social critique. The family is depicted as a place of conflict. Most likely, the conflict situations are caused by the social and economic circumstances. The main character of movie Where Is the Friend’s Home? is represented as innocent child struggling with cultural and traditional limitations to help his friend. The interaction between children shows more generosity, truthfulness, friendliness and loyalty then among the adults. It is a new height for Iranian realism. Ahmed is also loyal to his classmates, as well as to his schoolteacher, other adults and morality. He chose to find his friend’s home first, rather than do the homework for himself.
In the end, Ahmed found his friend’s home, but not the friend himself. It seems like the journey and what it brought was important, but not the purpose. Thus, Kiarostami shows his vision of the Iranian society in different interaction contexts through the eyes of innocent and conscientious boy who has more rigid sense of morality than most of the adults.
References
Lustig, M. W., & Koester, J. (2009). Intercultural Competence: Interpersonal Communication Across Cultures (6th Edition). Boston, US: Allyn & Bacon.
Zarrin R. A. (Producer), & Kiarostami, A. (Director). (1987). Where is the Friend’s Home? [Motion picture]. Iran: The Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children & Young Adults.