Poorly made, really badly edited. True story but woefully told

If you read the story you would get angry with the parents. Watching the documentary/movie still leaves you feeling sorry for the girls but also pity NOT anger at the parents. Brilliantly told. Hard to believe the director was only a teenager !

gr8 film manages to be both simple & complex no EZ feat.

A highly underrated film by Samira Makmalbaf. A strong emotional punch, and a powerful film about Muslim culture.

Amazingly mature piece of work for an 18 year old.

A very touching piece of art that really gives us the real portrait of the Iranian life with all its good and bad.

A very touching piece of art that really gives us the real portrait of the Iranian life with all its good and bad.

Its hard to believe that Samira was just 18 yrs of age when she made this film.... a beautiful semi-documentary ... carrying the signature essence of a Makhmalbaf.

The Apple it's one of the exemples that show to us how terrific is the Iran cinema.

A little dull, but also fascinating, especially considering the facts about the production.

Mulher cega e seu marido matêm as filhas gêmeas presas, seguindo vagos preceitos do Alcorão. As meninas são soltas, após 11 anos em cativeiro, e têm que descobrir o mundo com olhos infantis que nunca conheceram nada além de sua alcova. Filme de estréia da diretora iraniana Samira Makhmalbaf.

bellisima historia que, a pesar de ser tan distante a nivel cultural, logra conmover de una forma unica; tal vez por la diferencia cultural no se aprecie la ternura que emana la pelicula y esto se tiña de un sentimiento de pena, tristeza y desolacion, pero creo que es fundamental abstraerse lo conocido y disfrutar la historia sin prejuicios. la pelicula narra la historia de una familia irani muy humilde, donde el anciano padre de familia vende sal y recibe pequeñisimos pagos por rezar por los demas; a su vez, este tiene una esposa ciega y dos niñas pequeñas a las cuales cuida en demasia, prohibiendoles el contacto con el exterior por miedo a que sufran. de manera sensible y atipica, la pelicula cuenta una historia de amor familiar muy particular, llena de ternura. gran pelicula, a pesar de haberla visto hace casi 10 años, hay escenas que aun me quedaron grabadas en la memoria.

An Excellent reflection of society, humanity, civilization and culture

strangely fascinating...

Que triste. Que realidade...

A captivating part-documentary, part-recreation of actual events with the people who lived through it. A fantastic portrayal of how sociological, economic and patriarchal forces damage people. Too bad it's not available on Region 1 DVD.

Samira Makhmalbaf's debut feature Sib, a staged documentary with authentic persons instead of professional actors, is one of the most daring and wildly creative cinematic productions ever to be shot on left-over filmstock. Since things basically just seem to happen right before you in real time, Sib becomes virtually impervious to any sort of critical judgement. The same could also be said of the real people involved in this bizarre incident. No one actually plays the villain here, except perhaps for the society that creates situations like this, which is exactly the point of this original movie.

Samira Makhmalbaf, the daughter of a renowned Iranian director, was only eighteen when she made this film. The story, a true story, is about an elderly father who has locked up his two 12-year-old daughters for the whole of their lives. This is for their own good (their mother is blind and can't care for them properly). The heroine is the woman from Tehran social services who has the familiar problem - can the parents change and the children stay with them, or should they be taken into care? The players are the real people playing themselves - wow! Samira's youth sometimes shows, but this is appears to be a powerful metaphor for Iran - a kindly and well meaning father keeps his daughters in isolation and ignorance. The social worker locks the father in his own home and gives him a hacksaw to cut his way through the bars of the door. He can't do it, and in the end the social worker gives one of the girls a key, and she unlocks the door. (This is not subtle stuff, and a more repressive regime would surely ban such in-your-face criticism - remember this when the Israelis, with tacit American support, bomb Iran.) As one little girl, a new-found friend of the sisters, asks of the social worker as she stares at the father - "Is he her father, or her grandfather?" We are fortunate that Mohsen Makhmalbaf's attitude to his own daughters has been more enlightened.

A very touching piece of art that really gives us the real portrait of the Iranian life with all its good and bad.

Made with the assistance of her father, Mohsen, one of Iran's most successful directors, the eighteen year old (yes, EIGHTEEN!) Samira Makhmalbaf creates a part fictionalised documentary, similar to her father's own 'A Moment of Innocence' and Abbas Kiarostami's 'Close Up'. Genuine events are recreated with a small amount of dramatic license. Although parents lock their children away from the outside world, there's not much blame attached; the father's reasons are well meaning - "a girl is like a flower; if the sun shines on her, she will fade". The shame and dishonour involved is when the press exaggerate the story. Some have seen The Apple as an allegory about the treatment of women in Iran. The paradox is that Iran is actually the most progressive country in the world for female film makers.