Beloved

Life as a herder is hard and solitary, but the 82-year-old Iranian Firouzeh loves the ever-changing nature, the hard life and her faithful cows. She hikes across the rugged landscape, lugs bundles of wood and still nimbly climbs trees. Beloved follows this strong-minded woman in her work across the seasons as she tells the story of her life, with work and fate as the dominant themes. When she was a young girl, a marriage was arranged for her with an older man, with whom she had 11 children. But not one of them comes to visit her now. Spending the winter in the low-lying village, she makes fervent efforts to get closer to her kids. Nevertheless, she looks forward to the prospect of spending another summer in the mountains with her cows, ignoring well-meaning advice that she should simply retire.

This striking portrait captures one of the last female herders working in the traditional way, an indomitable woman who ultimately chooses independence. The colors of nature—also a protagonist in the film—leap off the screen.