Dashte khamoush

By his own admission, director Ahmar Bahrani stated that he considers Abbas Kiarostami, whom he studied with, and Béla Tarr as his main models.

The Wasteland perfectly exemplifies these inspirations: the structure of the film strongly reminds of Sátántangó, as partially does the setting, inspired bu the director's childhood memories: a brick factory, symbol of a millenary tradition that is slowly fading away, strongly reminiscent of the collective featured in Sátántangó. The sense of an impending doom is equally as palpable, as tensions arise due to ethnic differences, power struggles and romantic relationships.

It is a quite unusual commistion of an iranian setting and a style that is so different from iranian cinema, yet the two work perfectly. I hope to see more of this.