Another solid early effort

What I love most about The Traveler is that it goes about its business in the least heavy-handed of ways. Sure, it portrays the child protagonist as an irritating, misbehaving brat who, in the film's final moments, gets what he deserves for acting so recklessly to others. But the film can hardly be reduced like that. It's incredibly sympathetic, too, and the aforementioned "final moments" of the film - which see the boy's hard efforts pay off in the form of a dispiriting nightmare - aren't satisfying as much as they are saddening. Sure, it is a little convenient that the kid's conscience happens to surface at that point in particular but the way Kiarostami captures the little details makes such contrivances mostly irrelevant.

There's no neat answer here. This isn't a message movie even if it seems to have the trappings of one. The child may be a morally corrupt thief and scam artist in the making who gets what he deserves but he also may be a product of bad parenting, poor adult guidance and a society incapable of understanding (and sympathizing with) the needs and wants of the new generation (as is clearly visible in the regular beatings administered to him by the school administrator, the father's lax attitude to the boy's poor school performance and in general, and the mother's well-meaning but rude and regular admonishments).

It must be said that the final shot is evocative and a rather brilliant way to end the film. Atmospheric, in a sense. 8/10

Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.