''The Song of Sparrows'' (''Âvâz-e gonjeshk-hâ'') ( fa, آواز گنجشک‌ها ) is a

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Iranian movie directed by

Majid Majidi Majid Majidi ( fa, مجید مجیدی, ; born 17 April 1959) is an Iranian film director, producer, and screenwriter, who started his film career as an actor. In his films, Majidi has touched on many themes and genres and has won numerous inte ...

. It tells the story of Karim, a man who works at an

ostrich farm The common ostrich (''Struthio camelus''), or simply ostrich, is a species of flightless bird native to certain large areas of Africa and is the largest living bird species. It is one of two extant species of ostriches, the only living members o ...

until he is fired because one of the

ostriches Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There are ...

escapes. He finds a new job in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, but he faces new problems in his personal life. This film opened to critical acclaim.

Plot

Karim works at an ostrich farm outside of Tehran, Iran. He leads a simple and contented life in his small house with his wife Narges, and three children, whom he loves and tries to make happy. One day when he is in the farm, he is told to return home early as his elder daughter - Haniyeh - has lost her hearing aid. When he reaches home he finds that his son Hussein and neighborhood children are searching for the hearing aid in their underground water cistern, which, because of blockages holds little but sludgy mud now. Karim scolds his son and others for coming there, but joins them in searching for the hearing aid. During the search his son Hussein and his friends reveal their idea of clearing the sludge and raising fish in the hope of becoming millionaires. Karim rejects the idea and discourages them. They eventually find the hearing aid, but Karim discovers that it's not working properly. He approaches the hospital and learns that he has to wait up to four months to get the aid repaired for free, otherwise he has to go to Tehran city to replace it immediately. As his daughter's exam is approaching, he is worried about getting the hearing aid promptly. Shortly after, when they are moving new ostriches into the farm, one of the ostriches escapes, Karim is blamed for the loss and is fired from the farm. Soon after this, he travels to the city in order to repair Haniyeh's hearing aid which he knows will cost 350,000 tomans. He finds himself mistaken for a motorcycle taxi driver and thus begins his new profession: ferrying people and goods through heavy traffic. However, the people and goods he is dealing with every day start to change Karim's generous and honest nature, much to the distress of his wife and daughters. Every day he brings discarded items from the city to his home and becomes more greedy and begins to forget about his daughter's hearing aid. It is up to those closest to him to restore the values that he once cherished. One day when he tries to arrange the mounting pile of junk which he has brought home, the pile collapses around him breaking his leg and causing other injuries which prevent him from working. During his recovery, his son starts working instead, partly to help feed the family, but the son and his friends also manage to buy the fish which they previously talked about. While delivering some plants to a local farm along with his uncle, the barrel which contains the fish starts to leak. As the boys carry it to refill and fix it, the barrel bursts and all the fish spill out on the ground. Instead of just watching them die, his son Hussein releases the fish in the nearby water. Karim watches this and feels proud of his son. While Karim is getting healthier he gets a message from an ex-colleague that the ostrich which had run away earlier had since returned. Karim goes to the farm and watches the ostrich with tears in his eyes.

Awards and nominations

* Winner, Best Performance by an Actor (

Reza Naji Reza Naji is an Iranian actor and an iconic figure of Iranian cinema. Naji started his career in theater when he was a teenager. While serving in the Iranian army, he continued to perform in different roles. His first role in a film goes back to ...

) -

Asia Pacific Screen Awards The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia. In order to realise UNESCO's goals of promoting and preserving the different cultures th ...

2008 * Selected as

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

's representative for Best Foreign Language Film in the

81st Academy Awards The 81st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2008 and took place on February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 ...

. *

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

Silver Bear for Best Actor The Silver Bear for Best Actor (german: Silberner Bär/Bester Darsteller) was an award presented at the Berlin International Film Festival from 1956 to 2020. It was given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance and was chosen by ...

(

) 2008 Iran's Naji wins more top accolades of world cinema

Tehran Times The ''Tehran Times'' is an English-language daily newspaper. Ayatollah Mohammad Hossein Beheshti, second in line in the political hierarchy following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, stated: "''Tehran Times'' is not a state-owned newspaper, rathe ...

, November 13, 2008. *

Fajr International Film Festival Iran's annual Fajr International Film Festival ( fa, جشنواره بین‌المللی فیلم فجر), or Fajr Film Festival (little: FIFF; fa, جشنواره فیلم فجر), has been held every February and April in Tehran since 1982. T ...

Best Director 2008 * Best Actor Award at the Damascus International Film Festival 2008 * Special Award for Best Foreign Language Film

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

2008

References

External links

The Song of SparrowsOfficial website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Song Of Sparrows, The 2008 drama films 2008 films Films directed by Majid Majidi Films set in Iran 2000s Persian-language films Films whose director won the Best Directing Crystal Simorgh Azerbaijani-language films in Iran 2008 multilingual films Iranian multilingual films