There is nothing more haunting than the faces of those two girls, two angels who were kept in hell for more than a decade and have emerged, blinking into the light.

The feature debut of 17-year-old Iranian filmmaker Samira Makhmalbaf, The Apple is one part docudrama, one part parable, and the altogether involving story of 12-year-old twin girls.

[The Apple] hits upon simple, yet all-important human emotions that movies rarely capture.

Documentarylike realism and strong symbolism combine in the Iranian film The Apple, and it's not an easy mix.