Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life

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Audience Member Some incredible early footage is ruined by the most condescending, annoying, stupid, immature inter-titles known to man. 5.6 Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member Grass, a documentary made by filmmakers Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Shoedsack (the makers of King Kong), is an astonishing portrait at the hardships that the Bakhtiari tribe of Persia (now Iran) has to endure in order to survive. Having heard about the earlier example of an ethnographic documentary, Nanook Of the North, the filmmakers decided to make a similar film about these primitive Middle Eastern people. They journey alongside these nomadic people from Angora (modern-day Ankara, Turkey) to the lands of these "Forgotten People" in western Iran. They then follow a man named Haidar Khan as he leads over 50,000 people of his people and well over 500,000 animals through the Karun River and over Zard Kuh, the highest peak in the Zagros Mountains. The making of the film is notable for the fact that Cooper, Shoedsack, and Marguerite Harrison were the first Westerners to ever make the migration with the Bakhtiari. The way the people depicted in the film has developed their ingenious methods at conquering the environmental hardships make the film so captivating. Most notably is how they have developed a way to use goatskin floats to ford the river and the barefoot climbing of the ever so high peak of Zard Kuh. It is an amazing thing to view and only makes the viewer seem so weak by watching these brave people journey toward their destination where grass is able to grow to keep them from becoming extinct. This is a must-see movie that I highly recommend watching. It's an incredible journey. 10/10 Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member The second major ethnographical documentary by Merian C. Cooper, (King Kong) featuring the Bakhtiari tribe of Persia on a seasonal migration. ( http://mediaje.blogspot.com/2010/12/grass-1925.html ) Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Historically significant film about the massive moving of about 50000 people and their grazing animals. There's a clear colonial point-of-view for too many of the shots, but the spectacular vistas and the enormity of these people's undertaking is impressive. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member A pretty damn good film, sad, funny, and great. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member Amazing journey! Neat video Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life

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