How the Camerawork of 'Where Is the Friend's House' Reflects Adolescence's Horrors

How the Camerawork of 'Where Is the Friend's House' Reflects Adolescence's Horrors ...

The past''s nuances are often used in pop culture depictions of youth. Although nostalgia is prevalent, things in the age of adolescence are often smooth, but others are hesitant to take it personally. With his 1987 film Where Is the Friend''s House, you may get some sensitivity.

The difficulties of childhood are reinforced with a sense of rawness throughout the film. Here, an unnamed teacher (played by Khodababksh Defai) makes life a living hell for all of the pupils. One obstacle, like misplacing a journal or making a mistake on a math problem, will ensue.

This way, the camera''s position is often placed towards the back of the room, with the Defais teacher looming over the seated adolescent students. This change in power here makes it immediately apparent how small this classroom is, because the camera does not have to push back very far to work in two corners of a square room in a single frame. This also adds a quiet claustrophobic appearance to these sequences, as we can experience the difficulty of ignoring the teachers.

Upon Ahmad''s arrival, the difficulties are beginning. After seeing the teacher threaten Mohammad Reza (Ahmed Ahmadpour) with repurposing his notebook one more time, Ahmad finds out that he''s accidentally secured Reza''s notebook. However, his mother expresses concern over Ahmad''s choice of travel only to help his kids escape from school.

The camerawork at Where Is the Friends House is now making it even more apparent how little control Ahmad has on his own life. In contrast to the cramped outside environment of the classroom, the wind occasionally rustling their hair and clothes out to dry on a clothesline.

Ahmad soon breaks his mother''s word and arrives for the neighboring village in the hope of returning Rezas'' notebook just in time. A wide selection of photographs reveals the landscape as he sweeps across many forest and hilly areas, as well as surprising objects, to illustrate how well the odds are stacked against the latter element. Ahmad is not only at the mercy of his parents and schoolteacher, but also by his surroundings he is climbing and the trails hes walking down.

As Ahmad continues to pursue his quest, he finds himself becoming more and more embroiled in every dead end he encounters. Eventually, Ahmad attempts to obtain this adults attention, but to no avail. This shockingly realistic depiction of how often adults dismiss kids as having no perspective of their own. This is made even more brutal due to the choice to frame this particular conversation with the adult man''s body cut off from the neck up. This makes the viewer apprehensive perspective.

Where Is the Friends House further energizes moviegoers into Ahmad''s mind through subtle visual choices, like how the camera only departs from this character point-of-view for two brief digressions. This is made especially in a moment in the third act when Ahmad attempts to cross a darkened patch of a sidewalk by himself only to be stopped by the sound of a growing canine.

This leads him to retreat, with the viewer never getting any closure on if the sound belongs to a dog that would otherwise be denied entry. Instead, we were offered no additional information, just like Ahmads, as we discover what lies inside him. This segment comes in the nighttime portion of Where Is the Friends House, which really leans into using visuals to show how overwhelmed Ahmad is in childhood. This is only exacerbated when the sun vanishes, while you lose further control over what you see. Moments like uncertainty

Childhood isnt simple. Perhaps it was as perfect as many cinematic depictions of adolescence. However, for many, it was only a drop of sadness that you had no chance of comprehending. Even after a few minutes of editing, Where Is the Friends House takes pleasure in discovering utterly frightening uncertainties and difficulties. Kiarostami has often tapped into reality in his extraordinary works, and the visual details of Where Is the Friends House that document adolescent turmoil is one of the

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