THE IRANIAN
News & Views
COMMENTARY: Seeing Iranians as they are
BY Cord Meyer
The Washington Times
05/29/98
A retired American diplomat who was Country Director For Iran in the State Department, Henry Precht, has an important article in the Christian Science Monitor of May 19. In it, he argues that American intelligence has misread events in Iran. He claims Iranian films are more accurate indicators as to the true state of Iranian opinion than the official intelligence reports.
Mr. Precht claims the films are full of insight and "as rich in design and color as Persian carpets." He insists that the current Iranian rulers don't have a chance of transforming the country into a rigid theocracy. While there are disparities of wealth, education, ethnicity and morality, overriding all is the sense of community and respect accorded to each member. Rituals of hospitality and courtesy have real meaning. "There is dignity, gentleness, generosity, and a willingness to help."
Mr. Precht insists that neither politics nor ideology entered the lives of the Iranians he knew. "They aren't fanatics," he insists. He believes current Iranian films show that religion exerts a powerful force over the lives of these people. The family is the dominant structure. Loyalty and love between its members are stronger than any other form of association. Children are described as vital to society, and they play central characters in several films. Children account for half of the Iranian population.
In the past, Mr. Precht claims that Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger and company tended to see Iran as ruled by one man, the shah, the good guy. Now we tend to see Iran as ruled by two men, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, who is seen as bad, and President Khatami, who is seen as good.
Henry Precht includes some modest advice in his article. "The undiscovered secret of Iran," he claims, "is that it is in truth a land of 65 million men and women, good and bad. We need to pay attention to them." Family concerns, not political ones, are dominant in the lives of the Iranian people.
Henry Precht concludes by urging that the reader take in an Iranian film. Despite the "guidance of the Tehran religious authorities," Mr. Precht assures us that the new wave of films "depict Iran as it truly is." Thanks to the Sackler Gallery and FilmfestDC, Washingtonians can see a dozen of the best products of international, prize-winning Iranian directors.
As Mr. Precht points out, what is happening in Iranian cinema duplicates the Italian experience in World War II. After the fall of fascism, there was a period of lighter control that permitted creative genius to experiment. Similarly, in Tehran, Italian-style realism has flourished and tends to prove that the current rulers have no chance of imposing a rigid theocracy.
Cord Meyer is a columnist specializing in international affairs and a contributing writer for The Washington Times.
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