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Zahra Naderi, Masume Naderi, Qorban Ali Naderi, Azize Mohammadi, Zahra Saqari Saz ... see more see more... , Amir Hossein Khosrojerdi , Ghorban Ali Naderi , Azizeh Mohamadi , Massoumeh Naderi , Zahra Saghrisaz

This Iranian drama, scripted by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, was directed by his 17-year-old daughter, Samirah Makhmalbaf. His screenplay is based on factual news accounts of two 11-year-old girls who were lock... read more read more...ed away from the world by their parents until social workers stepped in. Shooting in video and on celluloid, the two Makhmalbafs managed to get the actual family members to portray themselves in this docudrama that follows the two girls, Zahre and Masume, returning home after their release from state custody. The film explores the motivations of the girls' father and their desire to play outside the gates of their home. Shown at the 1998 Fajr Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Flixster Users

78% liked it

985 ratings

Critics

80% liked it

20 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 25 min.

Directed by: Samira Makhmalbaf

Release Date: February 19, 1999

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Samira Makhmalbaf
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Flixster Reviews (73)

  • fb100002359227440
    January 5, 2012
    fb100002359227440
    The Apple it's one of the exemples that show to us how terrific is the Iran cinema.

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Critic Reviews

Peter Stack
April 3, 2001
Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle

Veracity is undermined by the very idea that the subjects somehow are actors in their own story -- and yet The Apple is still quite touching. Full Review

Joe Baltake
April 3, 2001
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee

This tiny, alternately simple and complex movie is fascinating on a number of levels. Full Review

Lawrence Van Gelder
April 3, 2001
Lawrence Van Gelder, New York Times

Makhmalbaf elicits remarkably unaffected performances. Full Review

Anton Bitel
July 1, 2010
Anton Bitel, Little White Lies

an allegory of Iran's longed-for emergence from repressive tradition into a more liberating modernity (especially for women). Full Review

Enrique Buchichio
March 16, 2005
Enrique Buchichio, Uruguay Total

Es un cine fundamental, básico y humano que enriquece la diversidad que siempre deberían mostrarnos las pantallas. Full Review

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
August 21, 2002
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

Presents a severe critique of the continued shabby treatment of women in patriarchial societies. Full Review

John Mount
March 5, 2002
John Mount, Sight and Sound

Makhmalbaf's impeccable feature-film debut is a witty and precociously intelligent docudrama. Full Review

April 11, 2001
E! Online

A little bit of Hollywood might have spiced up this fascinating -- but maddeningly slow -- true story. Full Review

Wesley Morris
April 3, 2001
Wesley Morris, San Francisco Examiner

At once an effulgent exercise in life-affirmation and a bemusingly crude piece of exploitative filmmaking. Full Review

Jeff Vice
April 3, 2001
Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City

As that old axiom goes, truth is stranger than fiction. Unless, of course, the fiction in question is one that's based on some very strange truths. Full Review

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