Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

The Gardener Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 20, 2018

Note: This film is available as part of Mohsen Makhmalbaf: The Poetic Trilogy.

Younger readers may not know the extremes some of us more “mature” film lovers used to have to go to enjoy international cinema. Typically in the days before home media (and frankly for a good long while after even things like laserdiscs and VHS tapes had been introduced), it used to be a requirement to scout newspaper ads for “coming attractions” at the local so-called Art House, where frequently any given film from overseas might only play for a night or two. One of the glories of the Blu-ray era, and of Arrow’s releases in particular, is the availability of rarer items from countries whose film industry has not been overly lionized, at least on this side of the pond. That’s the commendable case with The Poetic Trilogy, a really arresting set of three films from Iranian writer and director Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Two of the films in this set, 1996’s Gabbeh and 1998’s The Silence, are dramatic narratives that have a kind of whimsical, folkloristic quality to them. While perhaps fictionalized to a degree, 2012’s The Gardener is more of a documentary, though it addresses some of the same religious aspects that are at least subliminally presented in the earlier two films.

When is a documentary not a documentary? When it’s The Gardener, a rather interesting blend of verité and, well, something else that actually features Mohsen Makhmalbaf and his son Maysam, “playing” versions of themselves as a sometimes bantering father and son team out to make a documentary about Baha’i, a religion with Iranian roots which the pair nonetheless go to Israel to investigate. Already the film kind of subtly alerts the viewer to the fact that “religious liberty” (to use a phrase bandied about in the United States with some alacrity) can be missing in action in Iran.

One of the inescapably ironic things about Baha’i is how it promotes the positives of all religions, offering a decidedly more ecumenical view of how to relate to both the Divine and Human than some other, more proscriptive, belief systems. Interestingly, Makhmalbaf begins the film with a voiceover proclaiming that he is not a member of a laundry list of world religions, but after his investigations into Baha’i, he closes the film with an “equal and opposite” formulation that he may in fact be a willing acolyte of every world religion.

There’s some historical data here that may interest those who are captivated by the differences in “world religions”, and there’s some appealing back and forth between father and son. The film has a lot of footage in the relatively new Baha’i Gardens in Haifa (this film made history by being an Israel shot film by an Iranian), and some of the more moving moments involve a gardener there. In that respect, while I can’t say for certain Makhmalbaf is overtly referencing it, I couldn’t help but think of the short story by Rudyard Kipling which bears the same name as this film, and which itself subtly references John 20:15.

The Gardener Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All three films in The Poetic Trilogy are presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1 (Gabbeh and The Silence) and 1.78:1 (The Gardener). Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the transfers:

Gabbeh and The Silence were exclusively restored by Arrow Films and are presented in their original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono sound. For Gabbeh, a 35mm internegative was scanned on an Arriscan in 2K resolution, and for The Silence, a 35mm interpositive was scanned on an Arriscan in 2K resolution. All film treatment and scanning was completed at Eclair in Paris. The films were graded and restored at Dragon DI, Wales. Picture grading was completed on a Pablo Rio System and restoration was completed using PFClean and Revival software. The original audio mixes were remastered from the optical sound negatives. All materials for these restorations were made available from MK2.

The Gardener is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 with stereo audio. The master was prepared in High Definition by Makhmalbaf Film House and delivered to Arrow Films.

Unlike the two other offerings in this set, The Gardener wasn't shot on film, and at least some of it seems to have been captured by Sony digital cameras, as evidenced by logos that are clearly seen in several shots of Makhmalbaf and/or his son shooting things. Detail levels are routinely excellent throughout this presentation, though Makhmalbaf plays with perspective and framings, as well as light sources, all of which can tend to add a kind of surreal impressionism to certain moments. There are also a few uses of archival footage (see screenshot 14) and some intentionally "distressed" looking sequences that are evidently meant to be POV shots from a bird's perspective (see screenshot 13), which are understandably less clear and detailed than the bulk of this presentation.

The Gardener Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Gardener is a pretty talky enterprise, and as such the LPCM 2.0 track doesn't really get a chance for any showy sonics, but all elements here are presented cleanly and clearly, free of distortion or other damage. While not as central to the proceedings as in The Silence, the score is also rendered with a full bodied sound and is quite enjoyable.

The Gardener Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has packaged this release with the two "narrative" films on one disc, and the "documentary" on the other. Therefore, the discs may have supplementary material that is more generalist in nature or not specifically devoted to one particular film.

Disc One (Gabbeh and The Silence)

• Audio Commentary on Gabbeh by critic Godfrey Cheshire


• Original Trailers

  Gabbeh US Trailer (1080p; 1:19)

  Gabbeh French Trailer (1080p; 1:17)

  The Silence French Trailer (1080p; 1:02)

• Stills Gallery

  Gabbeh (1080p; 2:40)

  The Silence (1080p; 2:50)

Disc Two (The Gardener)

• Poetry in Motion: An Interview with Mohsen Makhmalbaf (1080p; 1:00:36) is a well done interview conducted by Jonathan Romney covering Makhmalbaf's career in general while also touching on these films.


• Mohsen with Closed Eyes (1080i; 16:34) is listed as "an imaginatively filmed archival interview with Makhmalbaf on The Silence", but while the content is definitely interesting, the "imaginatively filmed" part boils down to Makhmalbaf speaking with his eyes closed.


• Original Trailer (1080p; 4:21)


• Still Gallery (1080p; 3:50)

The Gardener Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Baha'i got a bit of a pop cultural boost in the United States during the 1970s when Seals and Croft, two Baha'i adherents, hit the top of the charts repeatedly with such songs as "Summer Breeze", "Diamond Girl" and "We May Never Pass This Way Again". One of the sidebars to this story features a female Baha'i follower who may come off as a bit more of a 1960s type, as in one of those loosey goosey hippie types, but even those who may be prone to roll their eyes at any New Age philosophizing may find themselves unexpectedly captivated and maybe even moved by some of the discussions in this film. As with the two other films in this set, Makhmalbaf fills the film with some astounding visuals to accompany the "story". Kind of ironically, that very "story" tended to hang together for me personally in this ostensible documentary better than some elements in the other two films. Highly recommended.