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 "Never comes together as a coherent whole."
-- George Wu, CULTUREVULTURE.NET
 "An intelligent, multi-layered and profoundly humanist (not to mention gently political) meditation on the values of knowledge, education, and the affects of cultural and geographical displacement."
-- David Wood, BBCI FILMS
"...a poignant and powerful narrative that reveals that reading writing and arithmetic are not the only subjects to learn in life."
-- Moira Sullivan, MOVIE MAGAZINE INTERNATIONAL
"It's a stunning lyrical work of considerable force and truth."
-- Dennis Schwartz, OZUS' WORLD MOVIE REVIEWS
"Further proof that the epicenter of cool, beautiful, thought-provoking foreign cinema is smack-dab in the middle of Dubya's Axis of Evil."
-- Jon Popick, PLANET SICK-BOY
"does paint some memorable images ..., but Makhmalbaf keeps her distance from the characters"
-- John A. Nesbit, CULTUREDOSE.NET
"Reeboir varies between a sweet smile and an angry bark, while Said attempts to wear down possible pupils through repetition. It has no affect on the Kurds, but it wore me down."
-- Erik Lundegaard, SEATTLE TIMES
"Completely awful Iranian drama...as much fun as a grouchy ayatollah in a cold mosque."
-- Phil Hall, FILM THREAT
"An exquisite allegorical film about the plight of stateless people."
-- Maria Garcia, FILM JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL
"A stark metaphor about diasporic people wandering aimlessly through rocky, desolate terrain, buffeted by unseen forces beyond their control."
-- Duane Dudek, MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
"An ambitious and moving but bleak film."
-- Liz Braun, JAM! MOVIES
"That is essentially what's missing from Blackboards -- the sense of something bigger, some ultimate point."
-- Jeffrey M. Anderson, SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
-- Click to read the article.
-- Mike D'Angelo, MAN WHO VIEWED TOO MUCH
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"This film is so different from The Apple and so striking that it can only encourage us to see Samira Makhmalbaf as a very distinctive sensibility, working to develop her own film language with conspicuous success."
-- Jonathan Romney, SIGHT AND SOUND
"Makmalbaf follows a resolutely realistic path in this uncompromising insight into the harsh existence of the Kurdish refugees of Iran's borderlands."
-- David Parkinson, EMPIRE MAGAZINE [UK]
"This is a startling film that gives you a fascinating, albeit depressing view of Iranian rural life close to the Iraqi border."
-- Mostic, IOFILM.CO.UK
"Samira Makhmalbaf’s new film Blackboards is much like the ethos of a stream of consciousness, although, it’s unfortunate for the viewer that the thoughts and reflections coming through are torpid and banal"
-- Jon Lap, APOLLO GUIDE
"People cinema at its finest."
-- Harry Guerin, RTE INTERACTIVE (DUBLIN, IRELAND)
"This rough but extraordinary film presents a haunting picture of life in Kurdistan."
-- Ken Fox, TV GUIDE'S MOVIE GUIDE
"An engrossing Iranian film about two itinerant teachers and some lost and desolate people they encounter in a place where war has savaged the lives and liberties of the poor and the dispossessed."
-- Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, SPIRITUALITY AND HEALTH
"The stripped-down dramatic constructs, austere imagery and abstract characters are equal parts poetry and politics, obvious at times but evocative and heartfelt."
-- Sean Axmaker, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
"Like many Iranian filmmakers, Makhmalbaf prefers ambiguity to agitprop in her approach to politically contentious subject matter, but the results are still bracing and affecting."
-- Jason Anderson, EYE WEEKLY
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FRESH 82%
Avg. Rating: 7.5/10 |
"An austere, haunting tone poem about how, amid the ravages of conflict, the most persistent battle of all pits the aspiration to be human against the baser needs to survive."
-- Gene Seymour, NEWSDAY
"When I first saw Blackboards three years ago I was surprised as well as puzzled that in some ways it reminded me of John Ford's 1950 western Wagon Master."
-- Jonathan Rosenbaum, CHICAGO READER
"A lyrical if sluggish excursion set in war-torn Iranian Kurdistan."
-- Michael Rechtshaffen, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
"Poetic, heartbreaking."
-- V.A. Musetto, NEW YORK POST
"Its metaphors are opaque enough to avoid didacticism, and the film succeeds as an emotionally accessible, almost mystical work."
-- Wesley Morris, BOSTON GLOBE
"A heartening tale of small victories and enduring hope."
-- Carla Meyer, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"It is a testament of quiet endurance, of common concern, of reconciled survival."
-- Stanley Kauffmann, NEW REPUBLIC
"There's no denying the strength of these simple images, and the bleak message of learning to sort out your real priorities in times of strife."
-- Peter Howell, TORONTO STAR
"An indelible and ultimately moving vision of humanity buffeted by the elements and by international political tides."
-- Stephen Holden, NEW YORK TIMES
"Both shrill and soporific, and because everything is repeated five or six times, it can seem tiresomely simpleminded."
-- J. Hoberman, VILLAGE VOICE
"A selection of scenes in search of a movie."
-- Rick Groen, GLOBE AND MAIL
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-- Click to read the article.
-- Urban Cinefile Critics, URBAN CINEFILE
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* Who are the Approved Tomatometer Critics?
* Mouse over a tomato icon for a publication's original rating. Original rating not available for every publication.
* In fairness to critics whose last name begins with a letter at the end of the alphabet, certain pages are sorted in reverse order, z-a.
* Certain "Blackboards" article data provided by the Movie Review Query Engine.
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