Writer-director Majid Majidi could not have possibly imagined just how timely his film has become in the wake of recent events. A construction site in Iran is the primary setting for this deceptively simple story, in which one worker named Latif (Hossein Abedini) becomes envious of the attention lavished upon Rahmat (Zahra Bahrami), an Afghan boy who comes to work in place of his injured father. But when Latif learns of Rahmat’s big secret, his jealousy and selfish anger make way for a protective concern, and he does anything he can–in secret–to ensure Rahmat’s well-being. Along the way Majidi’s story more than touches on the issue of the plight of Afghan refugees, but any embedded message ultimately pales in importance to moving and understated story of love.
