Maybe my priorities are out of whack but I find this movie so much more exciting then most of Hollywood dreck that explodes onto 2,000 screens every weekend. The simplistic plot was so usual to me that I was giddy in explaining it to anyone who would listen.Now listen to this plot: A little Tehranian girl goes to the center of town to buy a goldfish for the New Year's Eve party. Along the way she drops her money through the grate in the sidewalk. The man who owns the shop behind it has gone home for the day.The movie follows her frustration as she and her brother tried several different ways to retrieve the money through a series of characters who come along to help. You can almost place yourself in this story. You want to help these children get the money knowing that it's New Year's Eve and they don't have all day.The only way to judge this film is to imagine how Hollywood might have tried it. I think that, the girl's money probably would have been stolen by a crook leading to some lame 'Home Alone' ending.Like I said, maybe my priorities are misplaced but I found this little girl's struggle so much more captivating than fifty cars that get blown up real good.

As an elementary school teacher, the movie features the sorts of earnestness and sincerity in simple transactions and negotiations that I see every day. Making sure things go according to plan becomes less crucial as we grow older, but if we cast our minds back, we can remember how important it was to get a fair deal for our sandwich or our marbles or how important it was to treat people fairly. If you got a raw deal, you felt hard done by and if it happened enough, it might haunt you to this day. There was an acute sense that that was not how things should be. That is definitely the sense one gets from the determination of the kids in this elegant, poetic movie. A girl wants to get a goldfish before Tehran shuts down for Iranian New Year (Nahrouz). Seems like it should go fairly simply, right? And if this was an adult telling the story, it wouldn't be notable. However, kids are more vulnerable and can be more affected by circumstances. The kids have to be a little more determined to get what they want and the child actors in this movie, Aida Mohammadkani as the little girl, Mohsen Kafili as her brother, and Aliasghar Smadi as the balloon seller were excellent.As I saw some other reviewers say, this is a film that doesn't patronize children. It shows them using all their considerable abilities to solve problems and they often come off better than petty, small-minded, and thieving adults. The universality and simplicity of the themes in this film make it translatable to every culture.

I hated this film when I saw it first time. I though that the little girl was a brat. But as I was watching it this time, I realized how unfair that was. She was just a girl. I guess we are so used to watching adorable and cute kids in films, that a selfish kid seems so unlikable. But kids are like that. Selfish and impatient and whining. Once I accepted that I was laughing at her antics.I loved the film but it lost me in the scene, when the girl's brother and the afghan kid fight. I mean there was no reason for that. I think in real life, the brother would have at least asked the afghan kid for the stick and wouldn't have just snatched it. Maybe it was done to evoke a conflict. But even one false scene can break the illusion that is Cinema.

This movie, as has been said before, enters the world of children. But it does it with such a lack of full credit for grace and feeling. It never belittles children - in fact, it makes adults look like the buffoons they are. You feel for every victory and defeat they have and get engrossed in their plots and problems. The encounters with common Iranians is also wonderful, especially the soldier at the end. Perhaps the most natural example of child acting is shown through Rezayeh - I am surprised she was never nominated for anything in this film. Her other films are also great, but nothing matches "The White Balloon" Not to be missed - one of the best Iranian films of all time, without question.