The Traveler

Shot in black-and-white, Kiarostami’s neorealistic first feature is also considered his first masterpiece. Young Qassem becomes consumed by a single passion: to see a soccer game in Tehran at any cost. Despite his misbehaving and failure at school, this quest exposes how resourceful, smart, adventurous and brave the frustrated little rebel is. As his desperation grows, so do the lengths he goes to find money for his trip—including lying, stealing, suffering painful punishment and, most audaciously, taking money for photo portraits of his classmates using a camera that is actually broken. Despite Hassan’s monomaniacal focus, Kiarostami creates deep empathy for and identification with this underdog who follows his dreams, no matter how reckless or ridiculous. Hassan takes definitive action despite the most daunting forces standing in his way, yet even this drive can be waylaid by arbitrary capriciousness or, perhaps, mere exhaustion.