No Poster

Zaman - The Man from the Reeds

Visit website

6.7/10 • 6

2003-11-011h 17m

Drama

The First Iraqi Film in Over 15 Years!

Zaman is a sweet and sad story about love and devotion, hope and fear. Zaman (Sami Kaftan), and his wife, Najma (Shatha Salim), have built their happy life together in their house of reeds and, though childless, adopted a boy, Yacine (Hussein Imad), orphaned by the 1991 Gulf War. They have lived a quiet, contented existence until Najma falls ill. The local doctor tells them she needs surgery or some special medicine he does not have. And so Zaman sets off in his small boat and journeys up the Tigris to Baghdad in search of the precious cure. Thus begins the journey of salvation and discovery for "Zaman, the Man of the Reeds."

Directors
Amer Alwan
Writters
Joëlle Alauzet, Amer Alwan

Top Billed Cast

View Credits
  1. Shaza Salem

    Shaza Salem

    Najma

  2. Saadiya Al-Zaydi

    Saadiya Al-Zaydi

    Om Abbas

  3. Hussein Imad

    Hussein Imad

    Yasin

  4. Nizar Al-Samarayi

    Nizar Al-Samarayi

Reviews1

View Reviews
r96sk Avatar

r96sk

Jul 6, 2025

7/10

'Zaman - The Man from the Reeds' splits my thoughts. On the one hand, there isn't really enough plot here for a full length (albeit of the shorter variety) film and as such it never truly gets out of second gear. On the other hand, it is undeniably touching and the ending is poignant. Sami Kaftan's lead performance is pleasant, it's impossible not to care about his character and the family's predicament. None of the other actors get much time to shine, as you'd expect given the story, but Shada Salim does enough to stick out ever so slightly behind Kaftan. This narrowly gets a pass from me. The heart that is present throughout manages to keep it just about watchable.

Media

    Recommendations

    • No Backdrop

      Standing Army

      4.8

    • Mantovani, the King of Strings main backdrop

      Mantovani, the King of Strings

      6.0

    • No Backdrop

      Star Trek: Secret Voyage - Whose Birth These Triumphs Are

      3.0

    • No Backdrop

      The Gandhi Murder

      5.5

    • No Backdrop

      Affæren Birte

      5.0

    • Sukumar Ray main backdrop

      Sukumar Ray

      5.0

    • No Backdrop

      Studentská máma

      8.0

    • Sweetwater main backdrop

      Sweetwater

      5.0

    • The Divide main backdrop

      The Divide

      6.0

    • The Ponder Heart main backdrop

      The Ponder Heart

      4.0

    • Knock main backdrop

      Knock

      3.7

    • Sa Ngalan ng Tubo main backdrop

      Sa Ngalan ng Tubo

      10

    • Stalin's Last Plot main backdrop

      Stalin's Last Plot

      8.0

    • Spring Night main backdrop

      Spring Night

      0.0

    • Yngwie J. Malmsteen: Trial by Fire - Live in Leningrad '89 main backdrop

      Yngwie J. Malmsteen: Trial by Fire - Live in Leningrad '89

      6.3

    • No Backdrop

      The Night of Bad Taste

      8.0

    • No Backdrop

      The Language You Cry In

      6.0

    • No Backdrop

      Touched By Evil

      4.0

    Status
    Released
    Original Language
    Arabic
    Budget
    --
    Revenue
    --
    Keywords
    village lifeiraq