'Cafe Transit' (or 'Border Cafe'), directed by Kambuzia Partovi, and edited by Jafar Panahi, is a stunning film on the art of showing, not telling! The film's immediate story shows the struggles of a recently widowed mother of two small children in her efforts to live on her own and make ends meet, by taking over the family business, a highway cafe, in a rural male-dominated society. but along the way she meets others like her who share her grief and determination to renew their life; even despite the problem of language, the human spirit of love, kindness, and empathy, connects them together. The result is a film that is socially and politically daring in portraying a woman determined to not succumb to the pressures of local traditions, and also as a universal story that transcends Iran's regions and it's borders with its neighbours. Hitherto, it is a nod to this theme that the cafe in question, is set at the crossroads of civilisation, on the silk road that once weaved its way from Europe to Asia. Technically, the beautiful cinematography and editing are invisible, and it is through the light handed treatment of these elements that the brilliant acting (if we can call it acting), shines through. Fereshteh Sadre Orafaiy and Parviz Parastui are wonderful as the duelling widow and brother-in-law, as is Nikos Papadopoulos (Greece) and Svieta Mikalishina (Russia), in an international and regional cast of characters.
