Toothache (film)

Toothache Persian , Dandan dard is a 1980 Iranian short educational film written, directed and edited by Abbas Kiarostami. It is also known as Dental Hygiene Persian , Behdashte dandan which has let to some confusion and resulted in the film being listed under the latter title as an additional entry in some online filmographies, e.g. on IMDb.

Iran, October 1980. Young MohammadReza Askari, whose father and grandfather both wear dentures, rarely finds time to brush his teeth as he often runs late in the morning. At school this makes him a bit of a pariah shunned by his classmates due to his bad breath, unfit to participate in sports activities on account of his nascent toothache, eventually unable to attend school because the pain is now so excruciating that all he can do is whimper. He needs to go and get his teeth checked by a dentist at the local public dental clinic. While a dental surgeon works on Mohammads teeth, the seriousfaced chief dentist delivers a thirteenminute directtocamera monologue on proper dental hygiene and explains how tooth decay occurs. His lecture is punctuated by brief animations, moving charts, a sequence showing how to brush ones teeth properly, offcamera screaming and moaning as well as shots of Mohammad suffering and being treated. Once the treatment is finished and the pain is gone, Mohammad is able to return to his daily activities which now include regular tooth brushing.In Iran the film was apparently given an excellent reception and enjoyed quite a wide circulation. Since Kiarostami has gained international acclaim through his feature films, Toothache, which had its international premiere at Locarno in 1995, has been shown at numerous festivals throughout the world and has received scholarly attention from academicswho dont necessarily agree with Jonathan Rosenbaums assessment of the movie as a simple piece of didacticism about dental hygiene. ........

Source: Wikipedia