Shaere Zobale-ha (Poet of The Wastes)
Director: Mohammad Ahmadi
Screenplay: Mohsin Makhmalbaf
Cast: Saber Abbar, Mohammad Eskandari, Leila Hatami, Farzin Mohades
Language: Persian
Running Time: 80mins

There are 4 million jobless in Iran. And an ad appears for 3000 streetworkers for collection of garbage and sweeping of the roads. The competetion is fierce. There is a test on science where the applicants are asked for Kepler's laws. There is a physical fitness test and then a test on political leanings. Saber, the lead of the film who is well educated, clears the first two. The third one poses him the biggest challenge.

interviewer : are you a leftist or a rightist?
Saber: sometimes I am a leftist and sometimes a rightist
interviewer: are you a leftist or a rightist?
Saber: well sir I can't really say, what is left today is right tomorrow and what is right today is left tomorrow and it becomes right again the day after. I guess I am none.
interviewer: well..you fail the test. we want someone who knows what he is, to be our street cleaner.

and his application is denied. Saber disappointedly walks towards the door, then suddenly he turns back and says, "excuse me sir, when the left is right I am a leftist and when the right is right I am a rightist!". The interviewer is happy and he gets the job.

That is how, my friends, Poet of the wastes begin. Mohsin Makmalbaf is a celebrated Iranian Filmmaker and he wrote the script of this Film and it is a beautiful film about Saber, the streetcleaner who discovers the secrets of the neighborhood assigned to him by collecting the inhabitants' garbage.

One of the garbage bags is that of a celebrated poet, an old man who dumps his rough work(on his next book of poems) in the garbabe bag everyday. Saber collects them and reads them. One day Saber does not find the poet's garbage bag and he calls out the poet

Saber: Mr. Poet, I dont see your garbage bag
Poet: I did keep it there an hour ago.
Saber: well sir, it is not there
Poet: I guess somebody took it
Saber: sir, you have to be careful, there are thieves around
Poet: but it is just a garbage bag
Saber: no sir, it is a garbage bag of a poet, there is dignity even in the garbage of a poet

The poet is impressed. Saber tells him he read all his poems and even recites one right there. The poet is really impressed.

Poet: why do you like poetry so much?
Saber: I like it so much that I want to be a poet. May be you can give me some lessons.
Poet: no, you have to do it yourself.
Saber: but sir I really dont know how.
Poet: dont rush it. I once tried to rush a cocoon into a butterfly. I warmed it up and all I got was a dead butterfly.

That is a great lesson for any practitioner of art, don't rush it!

Saber finds a letter torn to pieces written by a Muslim girl to her brother in US, in her garbabe bag. He reads it and finds that she has none to support her. She is bankrupt, no one lends her money anymore and her attempts to get a Visa to go to her brother in US are denied time and again. She is contemplating suicide and this saddens Saber. Saber goes to see who she is and falls in love at first sight. He writes letters to her on a regular basis asking her not to lose hope and even sends her his hard earned money for her cab rides to the embassy but he is too timid to face her.

There is a poetic scene in the Film where the girl is walking back to her place from the embassy. Saber waits for her on a street that she has to pass. The street is strewn with dead leaves(it is Fall) and as soon as she enters the street, Saber poetically begins to make path amidst the strewn leaves by sweeping once to the left and then once more to the right. He keeps walking back making sweep after sweep with his broom, his face filled with joy, it is as if he is drawing a great painting on the road with a giant brush, one stroke to the left and one to the right. And she keeps walking through the path made just for her.

The applause in the theatre was instant and loud. This was the scene applauded most for the entire festival in all the screenings that I attended. You can watch the movie for this scene alone.

Click here for more articles by Hari Yelleti on IFFI 2006, Goa