(rated PG-13) If timing is everything then this bittersweet tale of a young Iranian who falls for an Afghan couldn’t be better. Baran opens focusing on illegal Afghani immigrants to Iran, supervised by Memar (Mohammad Reza Naji). He hires them because they’re hard working, cheap labor though government officials are constantly challenging the labor force. As the immigrants continue to grow so does the injury of an Afghan father whose son (Zahra Bahrami), is given an easy job of prepping the workers’ food and tea that previously belonged to Iout Latif (Hossein Abendini) now put on more rigorous detail as a result. As things progress so does a story where we learn the son is really a woman and an unlikely love affair begins. If the story excels in one place other then its emotional and redeeming victories it’s the global message during a time when our world is on war alert.
