Archive - Jul 2007

Cinema Evin

The prison interrogator who directed Haleh Esfanidari's "confession" video -- we will call him Evinpour -- does not have Makhmalbaf's skills. His attempts at realism fail at the levels of set design and editing. Evinpour has succeeded, however, in manipulating Esfandiari into believing she is speaking to a friendly listener. In the video aired on Iranian TV, Esfanidari sits in a couch, comfortable and relaxed, surrounded by the earth tones of the furniture. As our minds cooperate with the director to suspend disbelief, the small refrigerator intruding clumsily into the frame suggests that Evinpour himself has been unable to shake off the prison aura. If this prop is meant as an association with food and therefore good treatment, a basket of fruit on the coffee table would have harmonized much better with the intended scheme>>>

When will you see them all again?

The youngest is 12. If you look carefully at his small, expressive face, you will see a darkening hairline just above his upper lip. You want to stare at it, marvel at the promise of life it brings its owner and those who love him, but you can’t stare at a 12-year old boy. So you move on... Another is a pretty 14-year old, whose body has grown into curves which weren’t there last year, you could swear. You want to stare at the wild beauty of that gorgeous auburn hair, just like her mother’s, and watch the contour of that figure, memorizing it until the next time you meet, but you can’t stare at a 14-year old girl. So you move on...>>>

Repressive measures help pro-war forces

Detention and harassment of individuals, academics and NGO or political activists for expressing their ideas or promoting different cultural positions, are deplorable acts, regardless of the diverse contexts and vastly different dimensions in which they might take place, be it in the United States, Guantanamo Bay, Israel, the UK or any other place, including Iran. In addition to being abhorrent in their own right, such acts in a country like Iran which is threatened by warmongers in the west, also play directly into the hands of those determined to bomb Iran>>>

3D Iranians

Imagine this. While President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad practically calls for Israel's destruction and relentlessly campaigns against the United States, ordinary young Iranians are fascinated by American music, love Hollywood films. Moreover compared to Persian characters (kings, poets, social activists, politicians ... ) Barbie dolls, Spiderman, Batman, All-Star shoes, Michael Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Bill Gates and many other American characters, signs and icons are more familiar with them. [Although many western journalists and commentators have pointed to these facts especially since the advent of Iran's 1997 reform movement, it is still worthwhile to underline them to set the stage for any original analysis].>>>

Team Melli? Tokhme chapam.

First and foremost I will apologise for the language I am going to use as for the past few days I could not come up with anything more suitable that would convey my true feelings for this bunch of shit that we have had the misfortune of having imposed upon us. The poor poor excuse of humanity called Olaghnoi the head coach and his camp followers and brown nosed hezbullahi yes-men. This mardikeh olagh and his pastfetrat supporters have done exactly what they set out to do and that is to destroy the Iranian spirit even further. Akhe mardikeh olag, how do you put that retard midget Khatibi as a forward to deal with tall Korean defenders.>>>

2 films, 2 views

Ever since I saw FIREWORKS WEDNESDAY I have found myself increasingly discovering various layers of subtexts finding their way into my curious and analytical mind. Never before had the Iranian screen seen such fine performances as that of Hamid Farokh Nejad. If there was no improvisation involved whatsoever, then I have never seen such organic responses on screen or stage by a male actor. A psychological thriller? Hitchcokesc? Innovative? A social commentary? A non-judgmental account of life stories running parallel to each other?>>>

War and Peace!

Catastrophes brought upon Iranians as direct results of the regime's unjustifiable policies since its inception, are too numerous to mention and are beyond the scope of this article, so I limit myself to just a few. Had the regime's uranium enrichment activities been legitimate and peaceful to begin with, there would have been no reason for secrecy for a period of eighteen years until they were exposed by the MEK, the group with which Sepahpour and other supporters of the regime seem to be intensely obsessed. This issue has nothing to do with the "treasonous" MEK members anymore, the world does not seem to trust the Iranian regime and there are good reasons for their distrust.>>>

The devil's genius

With censorship abound, we must dodge the bullet of stupor and learn to recognize that Dick Cheney, this Yale drop-out who wore the color of cowardice during the Vietnam War, was chosen to be the devil’s instrument in order to influence George Bush on his destructive path. While the electronic highways are jammed with petitions to impeach Bush and Cheney, we must not fail to hold to account those who have held our highest office hostage and ax the root of evil. The destructive forces have already made their way into our future and the sparks alone are more threatening that the blaze we are currently engulfed in>>>

First step toward direct democracy

A majority of the U.S. citizens get zero political representation for the taxes they pay. Of the 49 percent of the population that does vote in the general elections (with the advisory that as low as 20-25 percent may vote in mid-term elections, and less in local elections), another significant majority only remotely, and in highly mediated form, may see a hint of representation. Time permitting, of course; the Senators’ and Representatives’ time is exceptionally precious and by necessity only a small minority of it shall be spent on lesser voters. Only a small minority of the total population has any real political representation, and of that minority a tiny segment, as we all know, owns the politicians.>>>

Unintended good

The second installment of the greatly anticipated two part miniseries “In the name of Democracy”, a production of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), has come and gone. Although it was billed as tell all about the sinister plots that are hatched to overthrow the “first government of Allah on earth”, the docudrama/ confessional series did not deliver on its billing. In fact, the program came across more as a how to manual for achieving good, in this case democracy, than how to avoid the bad, subjugation. To put it simply, if the intent was to paint the main actors, the hapless prisoners, as the instruments of the evil-intentioned powers to be, it failed. The show portrays the prisoners and their supposed masters as crusaders of Johnny Appleseed kind of good>>>

Blood money

I should give a little background information. The US government basically wrote a draft law for Iraq’s government to pass setting up the rules and regulations for awarding contracts on Iraq’s oil and gas resources and industry. This law basically opens up Iraq for the taking. It puts in legal framework for rape of Iraq. The passage of this law has been included as one of the benchmarks for Iraq government to achieve in order to show progress in Iraq. This subcommittee was reviewing progress on passing this law. One could say this law is the Holy Grail of the Iraq invasion for Bush administration and the very symbol of the War for Oil>>>