Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi (CHILDREN OF HEAVEN) directs this drama that earned its lead actor, Reza Naji, the award for best actor at the Berlin Film Festival. After losing his job at a rural ostrich farm, Karim (Naji) takes his motorcycle into the city of Tehran. A case of mistaken identity leads the out-of-work family man to start earning money as a motorcycle taxi driver, but his wife and daughters dislike the man the city has turned him into. THE SONG OF SPARROWS features nonprofessional actors, lending a sense of authenticity to the beautifully shot proceedings.

Rating: PG (MPAA)

Rating Reason: n/a

Runtime: 96 minutes

DVD Code: Region 1 US, CA

Genre: Foreign Films

Color: Color

Rating: DVD Features:

Region [unknown]
Widescreen - 1.78
Audio:
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Subtitles - English

Reza Naji, Maryam Akbari, Kamran Dehgan, Hamed Aghazi, Shabnam Akhlaghi, Neshat Nazari, Hassan Rezaee

Majid Majidi

Majid Majidi

"[T]his simple fable of a righteous man's relationship to his family, his community and most of all his faith has the force of conviction. And the scenes of rural life -- especially an overhead shot of Karim carrying a blue door through a field -- are quite beautiful."
New York Times

"If you didn't know that Majid Majidi's THE SONG OF SPARROWS was made well before the global economy came crashing down, you might be tempted to see this beguiling film from Iran as timely topical metaphor..."
Wall Street Journal

“[T]he cinematography by Tooraj Mansouri is beautiful....[The director is] particularly adept at eliciting wonderfully moving and funny performances out of children.”
Los Angeles Times

"[A] beautifully austere morality tale....Its dry whimsy, spare landscapes, and sparer sitar score are very simple pleasures, as simple as the film's ultimate message about traditional family values." -- Grade: B
A.V. Club

3.5 stars out of 4 -- "THE SONG OF SPARROWS is a sweet and uplifting humanistic fable that celebrates the joys of community and pastoral life over a harried and materialistic urban existence."
USA Today

"[U]ltimately beguiling, SONG OF SPARROWS morphs from a sly dramedy about running a household into a fable of two ways of life (urban and rural) that can't coexist."
Washington Post