The Gardener(Baghban)

Name: The Gardener
Genre: Documentary, Drama

Korea, Israel, Iran · 2012
1h 27m
Director Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Starring Ririva Eona Mabi, Paula Asadi, Bal Kumari Gurung, Ian David Huang
Genre Documentary, Drama

An Iranian ﬁlmmaker and his son, who each hold differing ideas on religion, travel to Haifa, Israel to investigate a religion that originated in Iran a hundred and seventy years ago. Those who serve in the gardens that surround the holy places in Haifa develop peace-loving attitudes through their interactions with nature.

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Variety by

A stimulating and highly accessible cinematic conversation.

Village Voice by Aaron Cutler

The filmmaker once responsible for virtuoso, tragicomic social critiques like The Cyclist (1987) and Marriage of the Blessed (1989) now delicately works to see how beautiful the world can look when people embrace each other's differences.

The Hollywood Reporter by Deborah Young

Images and metaphors whimsicially combine in a fine, fast-flowing documentary introducing the Baha'i faith.

Los Angeles Times by Gary Goldstein

The elder Makhmalbaf, who wrote and directed, puts many spins on this ethereal mood piece — it is by turns poetic, impressionistic, metaphorical and even a bit trippy — without satisfying such genre basics as structure, depth and resolution.

The New York Times by Manohla Dargis

An intimate, discursive inquiry into religious belief that opens to include questions about cinema.