(Reviewed 4.5/5 in January 2016 on letterboxd.com)
"Isn't there a better way to save mankind than to stab a policeman on duty?", asks the young Makhmalbaf to the old. Maybe, but that's not how the old Makhmalbaf would have it. Neither would the policeman who got stabbed some twenty years ago.
Makhmalbaf's film about a film recreates a comical and emotional event of his younger self when in a moment of rebellion, he supposedly stabbed a policeman by using his cousin sister as a distraction. As irreverant an act that may appear, like the quintessential Wodehousean - stealing the policeman's helmet on boat race night, there is an incredible emotional story behind it as the policeman who is now friends with Makhmalbaf cannot forget this moment in his life. He regrets not being able to give the girl a white flower and Makhmalbaf perhaps regrets having stabbed him. The beautiful finale of this film tries to reconcile with the past when instead of a stabbing, there is a flower pot and a piece of bread that confront each other.
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