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An Iranian film in which an Afghan girl is forced to dress and behave as a man to get work; amorous complications ensure. It's in the Farsi language.
Liz Couvade added the following (January 2003):
Director: Majid Majidi; Principal Cast: Hossein Abedini, Zahra Bahrami
TG Cast: Zahra Bahrami (as Baran/Rahmat)
Alternative title: Hamsay-e khoda (Iran: working title Farsi title); "Baran" also translates as "Rain" in Farsi & Dari.
An Afghan refugee girl (Baran) in Iran disguises herself as a boy (Rahmat) to work at a construction site to support her family after her father is injured. At first she is resented by the worker (Lateef, played by Abedini) whose job preparing food and drinks for the crew she displaces (he is put to work doing harder labour), but he becomes smitten with her when he discovers her secret. The disguise is fundamental to the story line, and Bahrami is onscreen in drab for much of the film, though she has little or no dialog (another Afghan refugee man speaks for her on the job).
By western standards the cross-dressing is pretty tame, just a tight cap covering all but the face, a heavy coat, and trousers, and Bahrami's face is too feminine to really pass as a boy. In a conservative Islamic context the cross-dressing disguise may be more plausible. The contrast between the dark male clothes (literally drab) and the colourful scarves, even the burqa, that Bahrami wears as a woman is notable, and though equally covered in both cases, she comes off as decidedly feminine.
HF January 2003
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