I have trouble with the symbolism of Iranian cinema. What do the two offerings of bread (concealing a knife, presumably) and a flower actually mean, or signify? I had the same problem with the final shot of 'The Apple'. Very confusing.
shareI just finished watching this film and yes the symbolism can be confusing. The way that I saw it is that both Makhmalbaf and the policemen wanted to change "history" or what happended during that horrible day when Makhmalbaf stabed the policemen. During the last scene you can see that "young" Makhmalbaf only had bread, not the knife, in his hands. Through out the movie the "young" Makhmalbaf is always taking about saving menkind and he saw violence as an antithesis of his ideas. The policemen was telling the "young" policemen to shoot the girl because he, even though he felt in love with her, didn't trust her. There was always something tricky about her, which he was right. But at the end, the "young" policemen couldn't reach for his gun and "shoot" her, simply gave her the flower, something the policemen always wanted to do. They are both symbols of peace and fraternity, in my view.
Needless to say, this is a very good movie!!
I came to the same conclusion. I have no idea if those two objects have special significance in Iranian culture, I just saw them as peace offerings. It seemed to me that the message of the film was that we can't change the past but through our children (and without violence) we can change the present.
Although I thought that the Policeman wanted Young Policeman to shoot the girl because he discovered that she was working with Makhmalbaf all along. It was his 'revenge'. And I thought that he was offering the flower to Young Makhmalbaf rather than the girl as he looks at him in the previous shot.
It's all about the younger generation shrugging off the violence of the older one. Instead of a gun and a knife the younger boys offer the girl a flower, which I guess represents life, and bread which represents domestic life. I don't know if they represent anything else in Iranian culture, but that's how I understood it.
sharewhen the young director was in the car talking about how he wanted to save mankind, he was asked how. he suggested he'd do something like plant flowers in africa or give bread to the poor.
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