This is a thoughtful, beautifully made film about very poor people, a film about the growth of spirituality within a young man who falls in love without saying a word to the beloved; it is a magical film made mainly on a second-rate construction site, a fascinating look into folks to whom the cheap thrills of most American films would be completely irrelevant. Do we need to care about this people? Can we even identify with them?
Box office winners in America are generally about childhood superheros dressed up in expensive duds or weave dark make-believe tales about vampires or medieval revenge. They are aimed primarily at 14 year old boys, but many adults flock to them for entertainment. And they are entertaining, just as most fast food is filling, but often not very nutritious. The fact that Baran couldn't even crack 1/90th of the box office take of either of those films says something infinitely sad about audiences not willing to stretch their consciousness, experience an alternate reality, or understand some of the people our soldiers in the Middle East might be meeting on a daily basis. Baran is an open window into another culture and leaves behind something other than a ticket torn in half.
Box office winners in America are generally about childhood superheros dressed up in expensive duds or weave dark make-believe tales about vampires or medieval revenge. They are aimed primarily at 14 year old boys, but many adults flock to them for entertainment. And they are entertaining, just as most fast food is filling, but often not very nutritious. The fact that Baran couldn't even crack 1/90th of the box office take of either of those films says something infinitely sad about audiences not willing to stretch their consciousness, experience an alternate reality, or understand some of the people our soldiers in the Middle East might be meeting on a daily basis. Baran is an open window into another culture and leaves behind something other than a ticket torn in half.