I saw the movie ‘Body of Lies’ in the weekend, I went to see it mainly for a particular reason… It was worth watching. The plot is one of terrorism and counter-terrorism, the tactics used by CIA to counter the jihadist operations.
The theme is one of violence, retaliation and ever-occurring mistakes. What I perceived from Ridley Scott’s point of view was that the current clash between civilizations is based on mistakes, retaliation and misinterpretation .
Each well planned act of terror, according to the movie is based on the motto: “you bleed because you have made us bleed… You will keep bleeding until we are bleeding.” It is thus an endless series of vendetta bringing destruction to humanity.
One party wants to get rid of foreigners, the other wants to save civilization from terror, the result: a never ending retaliatory process.
The only hope that there is, is “love”. Love and appreciation of mutual beauty are the only real charms that could ever bring reconciliation and peace. There are merits in the Middle East which Ferris (Dicaprio) can see and feel despite his duty as a CIA agent, though his bureaucrat boss (Crowe) can not appreciate his feelings.
Towards the end of the movie Ferris argues with Salim (The terror mastermind) that his logic contradicts the Book since he can not kill ‘innocent people’ while killing the ‘infidels’. Salim, in response, quotes from the Book that he must kill the infidels to get them out of his land. The arguments get to no ending though Ferris’ point seems to be stronger.
The reason I went to see this movie was Golshifteh Farahani’s presence. She was the heroine of the show and did a good job! I was thrilled and proud to see for the first time an Iranian actress playing at the highest Hollywood level with a group of world’s best actors (Leonardo Dicaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong…) and a great director (Ridley Scott).
In addition to having the ‘first’ female role, Golshifteh had to play a ‘positive’ role in the movie. I would like to see this happening more… Iranian actors should accept, I think, mostly ‘positive’ roles and reject the roles which will depreciate Iran or the Middle East (though I admit it is hard to reject ‘money’! )
I wish Golshifteh Farahani will shine more and more in great Hollywood movies and other Iranian actors and actresses would follow her to create a positive image of Iran… Viva Iran!
