12. BLACKBOARDS
 
Iran
dir. Samira Makhmalbaf
world premiere 2000
U.S. release 2002
 

 
Because the paths taken by the two leads represent no tidy dichotomy, just two among a small menu of fates that two men in this situation might meet. The abstracted threat and other occluded elements of the story spark against the austere realism of the filming style and locales, yielding a drama of invisible bondage and arbitrary choice that Brecht would have loved.