Hassan, the Bald

At first glance, this is just an old Iranian folk tale. My late grandma used to tell me the story of this lazy boy, Hassan, who was one day tricked by his mother to leave the house.

As a child, I had watched this film. Naturally, being young, I could not grasp anything meaningful from this movie beyond the literal and visual representations of scenes.

I watched this again, as a grown woman, and wow... Was I amazed at how much I had missed! Using the folk tale and a simpleton as the main character, this film manages to provide a very unique critique of society in general, while being entertainingly musical, rich and beautiful. It brings to the surface many issues such as single parenthood, status of women, abuse, rape, treatment of children, marital relationships, social responsibility, honesty, friendships, integrity and so much more.

Not to be missed... especially if you call yourself Iranian!

Enjoy! (Since it's an old film, I even found a full version, free, online.)