Back to Essential Cinemas tonight with this telling and dramatic film exposing the underground world that young people in Iran have established given the rigid constraints of their current society. The film is written and directed by a woman filmmaker, Granaz Moussavi, who emigrated to Australia with her parents at the age of 23. The film goes back and forth in time between Iran and Australia and leaving Iran is never a clean separation. It is clear that people long for a culture and life in Iran that is freed from the current fundamentalism and strict punitive controls. We see people in a public office waiting to be whipped for attending a co-ed rave.
The acting in this film is superb. The lead female actor was subsequently imprisoned for 5 months and sentenced to 90 lashes (!!!!!) for her involvement in this film. She was released the day before the punishment was carried out after worldwide outcry. In Chale's notes (5+ pages) he provides us with so much good background information that even includes the Bronx birthplace of one of the musicians. I have learned more about Iran this past month through films than I would have ever imagined. A country that has very brave people yearning for cultural freedom.
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