Ostriches are hardly the stuff of Hollywood magic. But then, 'The Song of Sparrows' is a far cry from the contrived, synthetically aesthetic films that Hollywood churns out. Ostriches are — it would seem — the stuff of rural Iran.

And Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi manages to make them, like everything else he touches, beautiful and symbolic. A man whose films often come across of fables, Majidi is a master of symbolism who understands the power of a simple story told as stories are meant to be told.

'The Song of Sparrows' is the story of a rural man and his family. It is the story of a man who loses his way and, with the help of his family, finds himself again. It is a tale of small tragedies and bigger triumphs. And, perhaps most importantly, it is a story told with a light and humorous touch.

Karim (Reza Naji) is an ostrich wrangler, who loses his job when one of the ostriches manages to escape. Jobless and desperate to buy a new hearing aid for his teenage daughter Haniyeh (Shabham Akhlaghi), Karim heads to Tehran on his motorbike. Once there, he finds himself accidentally working as a motorbike-taxi when a businessman jumps onto the back of his bike while he is parked.

Karim quickly discovers that he can make more money as a taxi driver than he ever made as an ostrich wrangler. He also discovers that the city is full of 'junk' that he can take home — a television aerial, a door, a window frame. But as he begins to collect the junk and earn more money, his behaviour begins to change.

Once a generous man, Karim becomes obsessed with amassing junk, refusing to share any with his neighbours even though there is a mountain of unused rubbish in his yard. He becomes unrecognisable to his family and forgets what is really most important to him. It takes the perseverance of his young son Hussein (Hamed Aghazi) and an unfortunate accident before Karim realises what he has become.

As is always the case with films by Majidi, the cinematography is spectacular. A preening ostrich, a man carrying a blue door across a desolate field, and a group of boys desperately trying to save a bucketful of goldfish splashed across a pavement, are images which are difficult to forget. The acting too is in a class of its own. Few directors can get children to perform as Majidi does and Naji's weathered face speaks volumes.

Sure, Majidi is clearly making a point about the evils of capitalism, but, if you can look past this, you will discover a beautiful story about a man and his family.

The film is in Farsi with English subtitles.

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