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DESERTED STATION
Directed by: Alireza Raisian.
Produced by: Hossein Zandof.
Written by: Kambozia Partovi.
Director of Photography: Mahammad Aladpoush.
Edited by: Hossein Zandof.
Music by: Peymen Yazdanian.
Released by: First Run Features.
Language: Farsi with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: Iran. 91 min. Not Rated.
With: Leila Hatami, Nezam Manouchehri & Mehran Rajabi.

A big city couple drives down a lonely highway through the stark Iranian high desert. A minor accident strands them in the middle of nowhere, near the ruins of a former train station, where a small village of farmers etch out a living. The husband seeks out the local mechanic, who’s also the de facto mayor and the schoolmaster. While the mechanic sets out on his motorcycle with the husband to get the needed auto part, the wife (Leili Hatami) is left to teach 10 kids, four grade levels crammed in a dirt hut without electricity.

As glowingly photogenic as Isabella Rossellini, Hatami offers a reactive performance. Wearing her head scarf, she's an Islamic Madonna, an immediate maternal figure for the children, who are fatherless while their mothers are off working in the field. And because of her personal problems, Hatami's character is instinctually drawn to them as well. It takes her no time in getting to know the children. They are more than willing to tell all on a classmate. Obedient and rambunctious, one moment they are asking permission to answer a question, and the next they are running out the door to milk a cow.

Deserted Station takes its time in drawing you in. The camera's unimposing point of view keeps its distance, often filming the schoolroom interactions from the last row. Yet the film does not feel at all detached from its characters. Rather, it is filled with feeling, but far from sentimental or cloying. Its beautiful score enhances the overall melancholia. Kent Turner
November 30, 2004