Blackboards follows two groups of refugees following the Halabja Massacre, one group of adults, the old and the sick, and one group of child smugglers. We are introduced to these groups by two teachers who are hauling blackboards on their backs and desperate for work. I found it comical that these men would ask for payment to teach people who were on the move how to read, the people clearly are not interested, their primary concern being survival.
The struggle of the refugees after the massacre is shown rather than focusing on the massacre itself. This is displayed sonically when the refugees are fleeing helicopters, the helicopters are not shown on screen and are instead made apparent to the viewer by the sound of the blades rotating, a militant sound, the fact that the refugees have a preexisting understanding that the sound of the helicopters coming means their lives are in danger shows the audience the constant fear experienced when living in the fallout of a massacre. The film continues to show how displaced people struggle, they are surviving by eating nuts, they have very little water, they walk all day in the heat, they are sick and they are grieving. In the background of the film people stop in the crowd, perhaps to tend to injuries or treat their illness, the crowd continues moving around them, the crowd all has their own problems.
One of the most poignant moments of the film for me is when the young boy refuses education and is told that education will allow him to learn stories, he replies with the story of his friend torturing a rabbit, he tells the story with bravado as if he is proud of it. He later tells the story again after being injured, this time he tells the story with regret. I found these parts of the film evocative, I felt for the young children who had their innocence stripped.