Laborers?
A laborer? You want laborers?
No
- You want laborers, do you? - How many?
Take two
- Hello, mister. - Hello
How are you doing?
- What are you doing? - Playing cars
Know how much a meal costs?
Get to the point
100,000 tomans is nothing!
How will we pay it back?
Right, what are they asking for?
Where can we find title-deeds?
Don't hang up! Do you want to make a call?
What?
- Do you want to use the phone? - No
Yes, I'm listening
Where?
Outside the museum? When?
All right
Good-bye
- I'll drop you off. - No, I'm working
- I'm going that way. - I'm working
- Don't act so proud... - I said I'm working!
Come here. Just a minute, please
Hello. How are you?
If you have money problems, I can help you
No
- You don't have money problems? - No
I can help you
Clear off or I'll smash your face in!
Get lost!
Hello
- How are you? - Fine, thanks
What is it? What are you collecting?
Plastic bags
What for?
I pick them up and liquidate them near the factory
What happened to your finger?
I cut myself this morning
Here?
Nice shirt! Where did you get it?
I found it over there last week
Nice color, it suits you!
Know what it says on it?
Where are you from?
"Pissy, pissy... Your dick's all sticky"
- Don't mind them. - They're playing.
- Where are you from? - Near Lorestan
Not a local then, from Lorestan
- Are you from Lorestan too? - You could say that
How much do you make a day?
2OO, 3OO, 4OO...
7OO, 6OO.
What do you do with the money?
I send it to my family
You want to get married?
No, I'm helping my family
You're helping them?
So, would you do something if I asked you?
A job?
A well-paid job
No, I don't know how...
I just collect plastic bags and sell them
Why? Where are you going?
A TASTE OF CHERRY
A film by Abbas KIAROSTAMI
with Homayoun ERSHADI
Abdolhosein BAGHERI Afshin KHORSHID BAKHTARI
Safar Ali MORADI
Mir Hosein NOURI Ahmad ANSARI
Hamid MASOUMI Elham IMANI
Assistant cameraman Farshad BASHIR ZADEH
Sound assistant Sassan BAGHERPOUR
Cameraman Alireza ANSARIAN
Titles Mehdi SAMAKAR
1st assistant director Hassan YEKTAPANAH
2nd assistant director Bahman KIAROSTAMI
Editor Abbas KIAROSTAMI
Sound Jahangir MIRSHEKARI
Mix Mohamadreza DELPAK
Photography Homayoun PAYVAR
Written, produced and directed by Abbas KIAROSTAMI
- Where are you going? - To the barracks
Come on, get in
Hello
Are you well? Where are you going?
Down there, not very far
The barracks down there?
- Near the reservoir? - Yes
You look tired
I guess I am
- Are you worn out? - Yes
A soldier is never tired!
What do you expect? I've walked from Darabad
- From Darabad? - Yes
But today's a holiday
I'm on duty tonight until six in the morning
Then what are you doing?
- Where will you go? - To my aunt's
She's dead, I stay with her husband, a janitor
How long ago were you drafted?
Two months
- Still in training? - Yes
Where are you from?
Kurdistan
- And you're in the army here? - Yes
Will you stay or go back after?
- No, I'll go back. - Sorry?
- I'll go back home. - Back to Kurdistan?
- Yes. - Good
What did you do in Kurdistan?
What did you do there?
I was a farmer
A farmer?
Have you studied?
- Were you at school? - Not for long
Well
You gave up?
Why?
You know how it is
How many people in your family?
Nine
- Nine? - Yes
- They all work? - Yes, all of them
- Do you know anyone in Tehran? - Yes
- Relatives? - Yes
I have two brothers in Tehran
Why don't you stay with them?
They're married, they have small houses, children
I can't stay there
Do you have money? Soldiers get pay
- Money? - A little... the pay's not good
Is it enough for you?
Oh no, it's not enough
When do you have to be back by?
Six p.m.
It's five now
You're so fond of the place, you get there
an hour early?
No, not really... no
We've got an hour to kill. How about a drive?
I may have a well-paid job to offer you
to supplement your income
I want to be at the barracks by six
- What? - I want to be back by six
I'll drive you back
Don't worry, you won't be late
- Shall we go? - Okay
I'll get you back by six, don't worry
You say the barracks aren't much fun?
I had fun when I did my military service
It was the best time of my life
I met my closest friends there
Especially in the first six months
I remember we used to get up at four in the morning
After breakfast, we'd shine our boots and
we'd go out on manoeuvers. The major would join us
There were 4O to 45 men in the regiment
The major would start counting
He'd tell us to repeat: One
Two
Three
Four
Do you count too? Is it the same?
Well?
How do you count?
Are you shy?
- Yes. - What?
Why? Don't you count with your friends at the barracks?
Yes
So you don't think of me as a friend
Of course I do, we're friends
No, you act as if we don't know each other
- No, it's not that. - Well, then?
It's not that
Listen, this is how we did it: One
Two
Three
Four
One, two, three, four
- Go on, repeat after me: One - One
two, three
Is that how you do it at the barracks?!
- Soldiers don't count like that! - I can't help it
You're taking me a long way! I need to know what you want
- What you have to do? - Yes
You know, son
If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't ask
what the job is, but rather how good the pay is
For someone like you
the pay's what matters. A job is a job
It's easy if you look at it that way
This isn't an ordinary job but neither is the pay
In ten minutes, you can earn six months' pay
What's the job?
Forget the job, it's the pay that matters
You have to tell me what it is!
Listen, when you ask a laborer to dig foundations
does he ask if they're for a hospital,
a lunatic asylum or a mosque
or a school? He does his job and gets his pay
Ever been a laborer?
Yes
Were you told what you were digging for?
- No, no one told me. - Why ask me then?
Help me out, I'll pay you
It's not hard, you'll see
Okay?
Where are you going?
I have to be at the barracks by six
I'll drive you back, wait a while
I want to get out!
- Get out? - Yes
A call of nature?
No, I was thinking I could go
Why did I ask you to come? You think I'm nuts?
Do I look nuts?
I was thinking I ought to get back
I promised I'd get you back by six and I will
Wait a while
Come on, get out a minute
- I need to get back. - Get out, I'll explain
You see that hole
That hole there
Now listen carefully
At six in the morning, come here and call me twice:
"Mr. Badii! Mr. Badii!"
If I reply, take my hand to help me out of there
There's 2OO, OOO tomans in the car
Take it and go
If I don't reply,
throw in 2O spadefuls of earth on top of me
- Then take the money and go. - Take me back
Keep it. Take me back!
I don't want to cause trouble
- Trouble? What trouble? - I don't want it. It's late
I want to go back. I don't want to be involved in all this
You can't throw 2O spadefuls of earth in that hole?
Right now, I really need you
otherwise I wouldn't have begged you
You want me to beg you? Is that what you want?
No, why would you beg me?
What does "need" mean?
What does "help" mean? "Help" isn't necessarily paid for,
but I'll give you money, I'll help you
Don't you need money? Are you sure?
Of course I do
Well? Isn't 2OO, OOO enough?
It's not that. I can't do this for you
It's not a matter of money
You can't throw earth in a hole?
Yes, but not on top of someone, not on someone's head
You can't throw earth on someone!
If he was alive, he'd stand up to respond.
Look, I really need your help. I'm not mad!
When you throw the earth in, the man won't be alive,
or he wouldn't be in that hole
Do you understand now?
Do you understand me?
Yes
So if you understand, get out, come and see
When you come back here at six tomorrow morning
Is your barracks over there?
From there to here will only take you 2O minutes
Call my name twice: "Mr. Badii, Mr. Badii!"
If I reply, you'll take my hand to help me climb out
You'll get paid
But if I don't reply...
Get out
Get out!
Get out, come and see!
It's God's will I should need you
and you don't want to help!
You don't want to?!
You won't bury me alive!
Right now, they're burying dozens of people
As we speak, dozens of dead people are being buried
- You've never seen a gravedigger? - No, never
I'm not a gravedigger
I don't bury people
I know you're not a gravedigger
If I'd wanted one, I'd have fetched one
It's you I need
You're like my son
Help me
I have to beg?
Is that what you want?
No, what's the use of begging?
Get out then, come and have a look
Maybe you'll feel up to it
2O spadefuls of earth
Just 2O, Each paid 10,000 tomans
Where are you from?
- Kurdistan. - You're a Kurd!
A Kurd has to be brave
You people have fought so many wars,
known such suffering... Your villages have been decimated
You've probably used a gun, right?
Know what a gun is? Why you're given one?
So you can kill when you need to
I don't want to give you a gun to kill me
I'm giving you a spade, a spade
You're a farmer, right?
Just pretend you're farming
and that I'm manure to be spread at the foot of a tree
Is that hard?
You're destined to use a gun, not a spade!
You can't even use a spade!
Thank you!
Thank you very much!
- Hello. - Hello
- How are you? - Well, thanks
- What's that machine for? - Making cement
Really? Why isn't it working?
This place is closed now. The workers aren't here
So what are you doing here?
I'm the security guard
- Are you alone? - Yes
All alone... Do you enjoy that?
Come and join me
- I don't want to disturb you. - Come on up!
- I have to climb this ladder? - Yes
- How can you climb this? - I'm used to it
- You're used to it. - Yes
- Hello. - Hello
What a nice place
Nice? It's nothing but earth and dust
You don't think earth's nice?
Earth gives us all the good things!
So according to you, all good things return to the earth
I think you're...?
I'm Afghani
- Where from? - Mazar-e Sharif
That's a strange name. Whose "Mazar" is it?
It's the tomb of the lmam Ali
It's a place of pilgrimage
Isn't the lmam Ali's tomb in Najaf?
Yes, but some people think it's in Mazar-e Sharif
Strange
What are you doing?
I'm making myself an omelette. It isn't worthy of you
I'll make you some tea
Thank you very much!
Don't you get bored here alone?
I'm used to it. I'm used to loneliness too
Do you know that man?
Yes, he's a fellow countryman
He's Afghani?
Yes, he's a "seminarist". He's here for his holidays
A "seminarist"? He should be in a seminary
He felt lonely, he came to see me
He's been here for two or three nights
Is he staying for good?
Of course not... just three nights
I didn't catch what you said
- Is he staying tonight? - Yes, he's staying
You're not entirely alone then
No, not entirely alone
- Is he Afghani too? - Yes
So many Afghanis around here!
There've been a lot since the war in Afghanistan
Between 2 and 3 million Afghanis live in Iran
With the war here, why didn't they go back?
The war against Iraq only concerned the Iranians
But the war at home concerned us
And our war didn't concern you?
You could say your war troubled us
but the Afghanistan War was harder... more painful for us
Tell me
today's a holiday, so why are you here alone?
You feel sad, so do I
Come for a drive. We can get a change of scene, talk
I'm the security guard here, I'm in charge
- A guard in this place? - Yes
But who could carry off a machine that heavy?
It's a holiday. No one needs guards. Come on
Let's get some fresh air. Everything's safe
It's my duty. We all have our responsibilities
- I can't leave my post. - You really can't?
No, sorry
I thought we could get some air
I'll go and see your friend, the seminarist
Maybe we'll go for a drive together
I've made some tea
Leave it for later. Good-bye
- Try going the other way. - The ladder moves!
It's dangerous! Mend it
You can mend it by wrapping fuse-wire around it
Are you well?
You're Afghani, aren't you?
Yes
What are you doing?
I've got three days' holiday
I was alone, I felt down
My friend Ahmad was alone too so I came here to visit him
I meant what are you doing in Iran?
I study at the Tchizar seminary
Aren't there any seminaries in Afghanistan?
Yes, there are some. But there was a war on
And my seminary wasn't that good
so my father told me to study in Iran or at Najaf
So I came to study in Iran
What about the fees? Does your father send you money?
My father isn't that well-off, no
The seminary pays me 2,OOO tomans
During the summer, I work
to build up my savings
What kind of work?
I work as a laborer, simple work
I didn't know a seminarist could work as a laborer
When you need to, you work
So if a job comes along, you take it?
Yes
Aren't you wondering why I've offered you a ride?
Yes
I know that your duty is to preach and guide people
But you're young, you have time, you can do that later
It's your hands that I need
I don't need your tongue
or your mind
I'm lucky that those hands belong to a true believer
With the patience, endurance and perseverance that you learn