when Badii gets into the hole at the end he has apperently taken the sleeping pills he said he was going to. Do we ever actually see this? There are several shots from far away while he is in his apartment, then there is a long shot of him watching the sky before he gets into the hole. I suppose he would have taken them at one of those two points, but if he did, I completely didnt see it. Does it actually SHOW him taking the pills?
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There is no "apparently". It's left ambiguous whether or not he commits suicide.
All I can think about are dudes.
It is not ambiguous whether or not he has taken the drugs. He has. While he is laying in his grave looking up at the moon and the approaching storm clouds, the light from the moon illuminates his face with his eyes open. There are two more instances of his face being lit by lightning flashes. The first shows his eyes open again. The second and last lightning flash shows him with his eyes closed. The drugs have taken effect. Then there is a long black screen on which we can only hear the falling of the rain. He is dying or dead.
The reason for the shots at the end was to satisfy the Iranian censors who wouldn't allow a film about suicide to be made that challenged their religious beliefs. The lead actor is seen lighting up a cigarette and passing it on to a member of the film crew. The director can point to that scene and say "Look, there he is. He's still alive." to satisfy them. That film was probably shot by a second unit crew during the making of the film and has a different look to it because of the camera and film used to shoot it.
True, you see him in the last shot (just before the long black screen) with his eyes closed, meaning that he's "sleeping"
However, when you he is sitting there next to his "grave" looking at the moon, you can see him taking the pills. Well you see his hand going from his jacket's pocket to his face
Ps: that crew member in the end, who the lead actor passes a cigarette to, is the director himself.
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It absolutely is ambiguous. It's entirely possible that he chose the same spot he had intended to kill himself in as the perfect place to enjoy those little things, the moon, stars, etc, as a sort of "rebirth". And since we do not see him take the pills (unless I missed something), who's to say he didn't simply fall asleep while lying in the hole? There's nothing to suggest he absolutely went through with it. That being said, it is entirely possibly he did go through with it. That open-endedness is part of the magic, makes the film active in your mind long after you shut it off.
shareThe point is that it was raining during the night. Whether he committed suicide or not is not relevant because even if he hadn't the water of the rain must have killed him by drowning. We''l never know...
But again, then Kiarostami shows that this is a movie by showing some of the cameramen, himself, and technical aspects of the filmmaking. It's everything before the end that makes this a great film.
About the crew in the end, he did that because the Iranian censors didn't really like the theme and it's actually taboo. It was his way to say " He's alive, and this is just a film afterall!"
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Notice how everything turns back to green in the end. Almost like it was shot with an old camera with a VHS. The entire movie is earth and dust. The ending is positive and green, with soldiers playing with flowers. It's amazing.
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