Some Iranian Films I Have Seen

Of late,some Indian films are found to be moving into trouble due to censorship issues.Reportedly,films like “Chatrak”,”Teen Yaari Kotha” & “Gandu” are likely to be facing problems to get released in India because of explicit content.All these hue & cry about artists’ freedom being violated vs conforming to local cultural ideology makes me think….is censorship really an obstacle to make independent cinema.Certainly,the brightest exception of our times is Iranian Cinema.In a severely orthodox country like Iran,film-makers like Majid Majidi,Abbas Kiarostami& Jafar Panahi have churned out truly modern films about their life & times.Out of their movies which I’ve seen I’ve taken immense pleasure in watching the child-centric movies in particular,’The White Balloon’,’The Mirror’ by Panahi and ‘Children of Heaven’ by Majidi.The sheer innocence depicted in these simple,heart-warming tales speak of cinema which is poetic,but not pretentious.Kiarostami’s ‘Taste of Cherry’ is an unique story of a suicidal man’s dilemma as he encounters several people in course of a journey who emphasize on him the importance of life.The jerky camera-movement swinging between long-shots & close-ups serve as a superb metaphor for the protagonist’s oscillating mind.Majid Majidi’s “Song of Sparrows” tells the story of how the character of Karim,a villager changes drastically after moving to the city in search of work.As Majidi’s camera sweeps through the bustling city of Tehran,we see the narrative unfold through several nuances of the protagonist’s metamorphosis in character through various dramatic events.The shots of Karim,dressed as an ostrich standing on a hill-top,looking for his pets or the shot of gold-fish’es from top-angle create memorable moments in the film.
Lastly,I’ll come back to Panahi to mention his comedy “Offside” ,shot almost entirely around ‘Azadi Stadium’, about 5 Iranian girls who disguise themselves as men in order to gain entry into a soccer match,as Iranian women are otherwise prohibited to enter soccer stadiums.However,Panahi’s strongest attack on Iranian society’s repression on women came in the form of “Circle”,which many believe to be his best film.The film begins with the turmoil in a family due to the birth of a daughter and ends with the imprisonment of the mother for the same,while describing other stories of female-opression in Iran.The cyclic stairs of the hospital complement the circular structure of the film,symolising the vicious cycle of existence of Iranian Women.
Incidentally,this film is responsible for Panahi himself landing up in jail which goes to show it’s not just the censor-board,but the social-censorship which needs to be eradicated for films to become a truly ‘social medium’.