Don't be misguided by the Oscar nomination - SPOILER ALERT

This movie getting selected in the best foreign film category simply goes out to show how Oscars have become just another award show (with glitz and glamour) over the past few years. I see the only reason for this movie's selection is its theme - 'Terrorism / ISIS'.

Although the theme is no doubt an important one but the execution is simply painful.

The cinematography is beautiful at times and also the music. I specially liked the scene where the passion for football of the young boys is displayed just brilliantly.watching that scene, it gets difficult to believe that the rest of the movie is made by the same director.

Simply because you are portraying people living in a desert does not mean you have to project them lazy, got nothing to do and easy to dictate people. The main protagonist and his wife had simply no action to do in their scenes. They, including all other characters speak so painfully artificially and so slow/lazily in the movie that it all looks so melodramatic, or should i say unauthentic. The fisherman killing the cow and the shepherd killing him in return does not make any sense. The shepherd talks like he is going to fight the outsiders/fundamentalist to bring about some sort of change and put an end to injustice but goes to fight the fisherman who wasn't one of the terrorist(although he did wrong him). Also what was all that blabbing about the daughter and wife in the end. Again too unreal. And yes, i did not understand why would somebody play music in their house knowing that the sound will (somehow) go all around the village and they will be punished so severely for it.