It's a credit to Makhmalbaf that she never looks at this family with anything other than the utmost sympathy. This sympathetic viewpoint means the film never feels exploitative, and that she refuses to demonise the parents turns what could have been a straightforward film into one of great emotional depth and insight. What is already a complicated film is made even more so by how it functions not only as a semi-documentary retelling of a true story, but also on a broader symbolic level.