Dancing in the Dust | Raghs dar ghobar (2003)

Synopsis

Nazar is forced to divorce his bride Reyhaneh because of rumours that her mother is a prostitute.

Determined to pay Reyhaneh's marriage portion, Nazar winds up in the desert with an old man hunting poisonous snakes.



Cast:  Faramarz Gharibian, Yousef Khodaparast, Baran Kosari, Jalal Sarhad Seraj 

Dancing in the Dust (Raghs Dar Ghobar, Asghar Farhadi, Iran, 2003) in a way takes us to thematic territory dealt with in Blind Shaft. It also deals with spiritual change as experienced by the central character.

In Dancing in the Dust, a jaded and hard-boiled snake-catcher's cynicism withers because of a naïve and hopelessly incompetent young man's selfless-love for his ex-wife.

Not having seen many Iranian films, I am not sure about its authenticity in its portrayal of a snake-catcher and other characters as Iranian cultural artefacts. 

The chain-smoking snake-catcher's world-weariness reminds me of a good old B-movie hero who performs his one last good deed and then completely disappears.

Somewhat disappointingly, the narrative does not bother with the socio-cultural details.

It is a modestly well-made film about hard-earned humanism in a difficult time but it does not contain any particular social and political implications that Blind Shaft carries with successful subtlety.

Still, Dancing in the Dust is moving and sublime in its rough portrayal of love in action set against the routine loneliness and cynicism so prevalent in these characters' lives. -- Senses of Cinema

Read about this film

Country: Iran
Language: Farsi
Color: Color
Runtime: 95 min.