Somewhere there is a sea of salt dotted by jagged islands that protrude from the Earth like spires. A man travels between these islands in a boat, collecting the tears of their inhabitants. He says that he will turn their tears to pearls, but no one really knows what he does with them. These islands are populated by people who live according to centuries-old traditions, untouched by the outside world; even unaware of it.
Mohammad Rasoulof's surreal fantasy is an odd film, it is one of those movies that takes place entirely in a sealed-off world, and is almost impressive just because of how detailed and painstakingly this world is brought to life. Like all films of this style, Rasoulof owes a debt to the great Parajanov, and like Parajanov, the world he creates is a reflection of the struggles his people face under an authoritarian dictatorship. Because he cannot directly criticize contemporary Iran, he must wrap it up inside of an allegory wrapped inside of an allegory. While White Meadows certainly works as an allegory, it is too far removed from any sort of grounding reality to really be successful. The sea of salt is too alien. There is a lack of warmth and empathy here, and instead, we are left with a work that is very cold and unforgiving. It moves at a crushingly slow pace, and the characters, which exist as metaphors, fail to give the audience something to attach on to, thereby generating a lack of involvement. But perhaps what bothered me most about this one, is that it comes off as glaringly orientalist in some places. I could not help but feel that this was made more for a foreign audience than a domestic one. Or maybe my patience for this kind of "poetic" filmmaking has worn thin recently, as I crave material that is plucked right from the "real" world. If this is the case, then perhaps it is a matter of having seen this one at the wrong place and time.
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