The Wind Will Carry Us
An impatient urban engineer's visit to a remote Iranian village becomes a patient, quietly comic meditation on mortality, community, and the ethics of looking.
Overview
A city engineer's journey into rural life reveals unexpected truths about community and belonging.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Slow
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- None
- witty
- haunting
- poetic
- quiet evening
- reflective viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly regard Abbas Kiarostami's patient, ambiguous rural drama as a formally brilliant and deeply humanist meditation on life, death, and cinematic observation.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Behzad travels to the village intending to photograph funeral rites, while the film turns his professional mission into a reflection on observing real life.
Several important people, including those connected to Behzad's work and the dying woman, remain heard, discussed, or partially encountered rather than fully shown.
Dusty hills, village paths, agricultural work, and waiting occupy extended attention alongside the sparse plot.
Behzad's city-bred engineering perspective repeatedly conflicts with the village's customs, pace, labor, and social knowledge.
Films like The Wind Will Carry Us, and why
Taste of Cherry
shared contemplative pacing, rural setting, humanist observation, and poetic engagement with mortality
Where Is the Friend's Home?
shared Iranian art-cinema tradition, understated humor, philosophical inquiry, and encounters with rural communities
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
shared slow cinema rhythms, ambiguous storytelling, existential themes, and attention to landscape and ordinary life
Close-Up
shared self-reflexive filmmaking, patient observation, and tension between documentary purpose and lived reality
Movie Details
- Director
- Abbas Kiarostami
- Release Date
- 1999-09-23
- Runtime
- 118 min
- Rating
- 7.1 / 10 (206)
Cast
- Behzad Dorani
- Farzad Sohrabi
- Noghre Asadi
- Roushan Karam Elmi
- Bahman Ghobadi
- Shahpour Ghobadi
- Reihan Heidari
- Masood Mansouri
- Ali Reza Naderi
- Frangis Rahsepar
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Wind Will Carry Us about?
- An impatient urban engineer's visit to a remote Iranian village becomes a patient, quietly comic meditation on mortality, community, and the ethics of looking.
- What is The Wind Will Carry Us like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Wind Will Carry Us as slow, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Wind Will Carry Us violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in The Wind Will Carry Us.
- What did critics think of The Wind Will Carry Us?
- Critics broadly regard Abbas Kiarostami's patient, ambiguous rural drama as a formally brilliant and deeply humanist meditation on life, death, and cinematic observation.
- Which films are like The Wind Will Carry Us?
- Films with a similar feel include Taste of Cherry, Where Is the Friend's Home?, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, and Close-Up.
- How long is The Wind Will Carry Us?
- The Wind Will Carry Us runs 118 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Wind Will Carry Us?
- In United States, The Wind Will Carry Us is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
