The Gardener (2012) poster
2012 · documentary · bahai · religion · israel

The Gardener

Directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf1h 27m2012
ElsewhereIMDb6.0304RT88%Metacritic65TMDB5.29
  • warm
  • measured
  • gentle
Movie DNA

Warm, measured, gentle documentary / bahai, grounded in texture. Redemptive, intimate, measured, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

An Iranian filmmaker and his son travel to Haifa, Israel to investigate a religion that originated a hundred and seventy years ago. Youth from all over come to Haifa to join this religion, and those who serve in the gardens that surround the holy places develop peace-loving attitudes through their interactions with nature. The filmmaker shares with his son the idea that if the Iranian people had adopted a peaceful religion, Iran would not be preparing a nuclear attack on Israel, but the son believes that all religions tend to bring about destruction. As a result of these arguments, father and son separate from one another and pursue their own paths.

Our read · The Gardener (2012) reads as a warm, measured, grounded documentary · bahai · religion entry — gentle in intensity, intimate in scope, measured in temperature, redemptive in outlook, with a strong directorial signature. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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The shape of The Gardener

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want a peaceful documentary on Baha'i gardens and nature fostering tolerance.

ends upliftingit stays with youmeditativegrips by minute 12attention 3/5earns its lengthsubtitles: full
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around

Skip it tonightSkip if you want narrative fiction or fast moving documentaries.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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