How often do you read about film critics giving five stars: “*****” to a movie? Could it be for Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet?
“A world-class masterpiece. Flawlessly crafted, brilliantly performed and elegantly photographed. It appears to flow as life flows, mysteriously and irrepressibly.” Is it about Federico Felini’s?
“Rivetting. Grips you like a great thriller.” Is it Hitchcock’s movie?
“Sophisticated, superbly acted and wholly gripping. Keeps us hooked right until a supremely well-handed close.” Is it about Stanley Kuberic, s movie? And finally, “Calling it a masterpiece is too mild a compliment.” Is it about Jean Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai movie? No, none of them!
These are the complements from the most famous newspapers, magazines, and movie critics of the world. It is all about an Iranian movie called: “A separation”. It is all about a young gentleman from Esfahan, Iran. You must have heard about him by now…Mr. Asghar Farhadi. A well educated artist who developed his career in theatre and cinema not too long ago. He must have studied about all of the mentioned directors and movies at his Iranian university. His art portfolio is loaded with numerous awards. The last but not the least “A separation…” was not made for the international media but for showing in Iran. When he was making the movie, he himself did not know that he was making a history.
When I wrote about “A time for drunken horses” by Bahman Ghobadi in Sharhrvand, I was hoping that in some years in the future, an Iranian movie could win an Oscar or Golden Globe awards. I never predicted to happen so soon. What a thrill and over joy for all Iranians!
Farhadi has a great talent to create multi-layers personalities in his movie. He knows in depth the psychology of his Iranian society. The sequences of events in his movie are well-crafted and there is zero non-sense in the line of his story. The audience from any generation can immediately make connection with his or her character(s). The interactions among these characters are justified and outstandingly reasonable. The movie watchers constantly put themselves in the shoes of each character to find out what could have been done differently. People from the western world are astounded by the honesty of Farhadi’s movie. They are still totally unfamiliar with the atmosphere of Iran’s society.
“A Separation” presents a different Islamic society value. In the media, words, such as Islamist, Islamo-phobia, Islamo-Nazi are used to demonize Islam. In Farhadi’s world everyone is honest, faithful, generous, and truthful. Even the conflicts among the characters are initiating for justice. To realize the fact that the principle of the honesty of the characters is based on their religion but not the results of the Islamic revolution is a distinctive separation. Although all of the characters have temptations for lying, stealing, accusing, and betraying but subconsciously feel the existence of God and their wisdom. This is the peaceful message of the movie against mass media. Such fact is almost hard to believe but it based on the commands of true Islam. They believe in Islam not because of a propaganda machine but to clear their souls from present evils. This is a totally different message from what the political world knows about Iranian society.
“A Separation” is definitely about the separation between the government of Iran and people of Iran! There is no doubt that there are many evils live in Iran but Farhadi decides to ignore them and glorify the decency, dignity, and honesty of Persian people. There are no subliminal messages of nationalism, racism, or patriotism in his movie. Farhadi illustrates the agony of life in Iran as most Iranians experience daily since there is no easy life for anybody. Most middle class and heartbrokenly lower class are used to deal with daily struggles for their ends meats.
“A Separation” is definitely about the separation between being Muslim and being Persian. In Farhadi’s movie, when daughter responds the meanings of English vocabularies in Arabic, the father emphasizes in learning the meanings in Persian. These are the views by all Persians about the love of the homeland and the love of the religion.
“A Separation” ends with an outstanding climax with an incredible meaningful silence. The young girl is the only identity that bounds the marriage of her parents.
She enters the court. The judge orders the parents (present generation) to leave the court. The judge says to the young girl:” So, have you made up your mind? What is your verdict?!” He does not say:” I made the decision”. The girl (the future generations) hesitates but the silence means: “I am the decision maker. The future is mine.” This is the most meaningful silence in this movie! This is why the international critics worship this movie! What an outstanding message!
There are several talented directors in Iran that are truly demonstrating the messages of our society to the world in their movies. We are proud of them and Oscar is a milestone through their hard efforts. Bravo Mr. Farhadi!
