Iran as few westerners have seen it-multicultural, immense, astonishingly diverse, hauntingly beautiful. This ambitious documentary is an exercise in poetic cartography that takes in the vast sweep of an ancient, tragic land, tracing not just the length and breadth of its geography but also the arc of its history as a nation-state, from the earliest Persian tribes to the present-day theocratic republic and its ongoing, difficult confrontation with modernity. The film eschews narrative, opting instead for a mesmerizing weave of music, image, and sound. The variety of the country's climatic and natural conditions-deserts, forests, coasts, and mountains-and the cultures, rites, and religions of its numerous ethnic groups are all observed with great attention and fidelity. Four years in the making, this is an exquisitely rendered document, a testament both to the filmmakers' courage and zeal and to their subject's infinite richness.
The film has raised controversy in its North American screenings over its interpretation of contemporary Iran.

Yad-O-Yadegar is repeated on Sunday, January 19.