IT’S ALWAYS LATE FOR FREEDOM
Price: $350.00 Code: 2535 |
Directed by Mehrdad Oskouei
2007, 53 minutes
Purchase: $350 | Classroom rental: $125
"For a kid at my age, it’s hard to cry." - Sajjad, Age 15.
Acclaimed filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei provides a rare glimpse into an all-male juvenile detention facility in Iran. These adolescent boys have committed crimes ranging from theft to drug smuggling to stabbing. But through Oskouei’s masterful eye and gentle offscreen questioning, we learn that they are teenagers like any others - teasing, playful, and in the throes of first love.
At the Tehran House of Correction, every boy, head freshly shaved to prevent lice, completes chores, shares a bunk bed and waits to use the phone--alongside adult inmates. The Tehran House of Correction treats the boys as adults, and boys come to see themselves this way. But watching the boys wrestle, dance, and sing, it’s clear: childhood has not released them.
Each boy has his own story. One boy from Afghanistan has used a fake passport to get into the country and sent work money back to his family. Another who has stolen a motorcycle has not seen his mother in two years. One boy’s pet pigeons were decapitated by his father. And yet, even while incarcerated, there is hope in their eyes. They dream of future milestones like marriage. Most of all they dream of being released, free to live their lives. For each of them, there is a fear of going back, and a fear of going forward.
It's Always Late for Freedom is the first film of Oskouei’s trilogy documenting troubled youth in Iran, preceding The Last Days of Winter (2011) and Starless Dreams (2016).
“With the same penchant for detail shown in his previous works, The Other Side of Burka and Nose Iranian Style, Oskouei communicates the harsh emotional reality of life behind bars for these youngsters, along with their touching sense of camaraderie and loyalty to each other. The subject is a classic one, treated in many films, but the style is strongly personal and the filmmaker’s empathy piercingly sincere.” - The Hollywood Reporter
2007, 53 minutes
Purchase: $350 | Classroom rental: $125
"For a kid at my age, it’s hard to cry." - Sajjad, Age 15.
Acclaimed filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei provides a rare glimpse into an all-male juvenile detention facility in Iran. These adolescent boys have committed crimes ranging from theft to drug smuggling to stabbing. But through Oskouei’s masterful eye and gentle offscreen questioning, we learn that they are teenagers like any others - teasing, playful, and in the throes of first love.
At the Tehran House of Correction, every boy, head freshly shaved to prevent lice, completes chores, shares a bunk bed and waits to use the phone--alongside adult inmates. The Tehran House of Correction treats the boys as adults, and boys come to see themselves this way. But watching the boys wrestle, dance, and sing, it’s clear: childhood has not released them.
Each boy has his own story. One boy from Afghanistan has used a fake passport to get into the country and sent work money back to his family. Another who has stolen a motorcycle has not seen his mother in two years. One boy’s pet pigeons were decapitated by his father. And yet, even while incarcerated, there is hope in their eyes. They dream of future milestones like marriage. Most of all they dream of being released, free to live their lives. For each of them, there is a fear of going back, and a fear of going forward.
It's Always Late for Freedom is the first film of Oskouei’s trilogy documenting troubled youth in Iran, preceding The Last Days of Winter (2011) and Starless Dreams (2016).
Subjects & Collections
2016 Middle Eastern Studies Criminal & Law Children & Young Adult Alcohol & Drug Abuse Psychology & Psychiatry Family Relations Anthropology
Reviews
“The boys embody tales of hardship, love, family and discovery. All feel the loss of those very things as they sit on the inside and support each other while the world outside continues without them. In this way, the film is also a testament to community and compassion.” - POV Magazine“With the same penchant for detail shown in his previous works, The Other Side of Burka and Nose Iranian Style, Oskouei communicates the harsh emotional reality of life behind bars for these youngsters, along with their touching sense of camaraderie and loyalty to each other. The subject is a classic one, treated in many films, but the style is strongly personal and the filmmaker’s empathy piercingly sincere.” - The Hollywood Reporter
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