Iron Island (2005)

***NOTE: The following analysis/review may contain MILD SPOILERS regarding some detail in the film, but not to the extent of making the film viewing experience any lesser.***

Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, who helmed the poetic and heavily allegorical "The White Meadows" (2009) had created something to similar effect earlier in this interesting 2005 drama, "Iron Island" (aka Jazireh Ahani). This is yet another fable-like tale, a veiled allegory full of visual metaphors and symbolism that one can instantly connect to the general sociopolitical environment in contemporary Iran.

Old man Nemat (Ali Nassirian), with his commanding presence, replete with a thick moustache, and a turban has harboured an entire community of needy individuals and their families on an abandoned old oil tanker in the middle of the sea. The locals who need shelter are provided one on this ship along with a small-time job in a self-contained small industry of sorts on board. Useless metal parts of the ship are disassembled and sold ashore as scrap. Women on board engage in making what they call burqas, but they are actually eye masks! 

Other young men do odd jobs around with no payment, but their wages compensate for their rentals in a way, all duly accounted for in Nemat's diary. It's like a whole cult of squatters all thriving under the kind shelter of their messiah, Nemat, who is, not surprisingly referred to as The Captain (of the ship, of course!). A single mobile phone is kept on board, and calling services are rented out to the inhabitants.

Nemat is the self-appointed leader of his offbeat crew. Admired and respected, but also feared, he isn't really tyrannical or ruthless. In fact, he appears to be a father figure with a polite demeanor. Exceptions are some stray incidents that invoke his wrath. It is then that his leadership starts to resemble an authoritarian autocracy. But he also looks after his crew, as is evident from some phone calls, albeit not without a hint of some personal gain as well.

It is one terrific characterization that keeps the persona of this figure deliberately ambiguous. The display of altruism is not an unorthodox one. The man has his rules. As long as they are followed and things go his way, it all proceeds smoothly. Thereby, Nemat is like the perfect balance between a dictator and a messiah! He even offers to bring good marriage alliances for the daughters of families on the ship. Only when there are errors, such as disobedience or amorous activities against his will, then there is the wrath! The guilty aren't let off easily. There are consequences, there are punishments!

The ship has its share of a motley of strange characters, that represent the byproducts of an environment of repression. So if there is a dictator, there has to be a rebel. One youngster, Ahmad (Hossein Farzi-Zadeh) who falls in love with an engaged girl on the ship and attempts to flee becomes the epitome of resistance in this case. What befalls him as a consequence represents the plight of any liberal thinker who dares to speak against a fascist government body. 

There is one little boy fondly named Baby Fish! He collects fish who stray into the ship's hold and sets them free by releasing them into the sea. He is the epitome of liberty, the symbol of freedom. On one instance Nemat catches him doing this task of releasing fish in the sea. Nemat is alarmed; he just takes the fish from the boy's hands and throws them back inside the hold. "When they grow bigger, we will catch them and eat them", he says! A statement that pretty much echoes and sums up the exploitative tactics of this old man, feeding off the blind faith of his followers.

And then there is this quirky old Uncle Sadegh, who spends his entire time staring with great expectations in direction of the sun, looking for something. He claims he has spent a lot of time doing it, but still cannot see anything. What is he looking for? A ray of hope perhaps? A light that would lead them out of the darkness and suffocation and into the light and fresh air?

The vessel in which these people thrive is a direct metaphor for a trapped existence. It serves as a microcosm of a claustrophobic, controlled environment from which there is seemingly no escape. And what's more, this ship is gradually sinking, as the sole teacher on board points out with his new scientific invention. It is a genius literal reference to the systematic deterioration of a society in a controlled atmosphere of fundamentalist tendencies. Of course, Nemat promptly poo-poos the teacher's claim away! 

The teacher is the voice of reason, the only independent thinker, also stifled by the iron hand of Nemat. The teacher eventually does make some attempt to get his voice heard, by including subliminal warning messages in his teachings imparted to the kids on board! Isn't this what liberal thinkers do? Educate, criticize, and awaken through their books, through their art, through their films? How ironical then, that this teacher makes his own writing chalks with the aid of empty rifle cartridges!

In the end, if the teacher says, the ship will sink some day, then it will! So, does old Nemat have a plan in place for saving his beloved crew? It seems so, when an exodus from sea to the land eventually occurs and Nemat promises them a town, their own promised land, which when we finally see, raises a lot of questions. The group waits for their leader to arrive, and as the guide of the crowd looks towards the road, awaiting his leader, the old uncle continues staring at the sun again, in an awe-inspiring composition, in a single frame. He is clearly the wise one, the cynical one in an environment such as this!

While the old man continues his search for the light, another rebel takes birth as Baby Fish chooses to not follow their leader and runs towards the sea, at a future uncertain. The voice of liberty and freedom walks away from the herd, much like the filmmakers and artists of Iran who chose a self-imposed exile rather than have their voices shoved back into their throats by the powers that be!

"Iron Island" isn't as haunting a cinematic experience as "The White Meadows" but it certainly merits a viewing and much more recognition as a brave and clever work of cinema from a talented filmmaker.

Score: 9/10

About Elly (2009)

Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi who bowled us over with his Oscar winning "A Separation" (2011), only proves with each film that he is a master storyteller who specializes in making tense, absorbing family dramas, examining complex behavioural issues, with an edge of mystery. His 2009 film "About Elly" (aka "Darbareye Elly") is no exception. Farhadi, who seems to have found his comfort zone in films of the sort, narrates a story such as this, quite effortlessly.

A group of family friends and their kids venture to the seaside for some weekend fun. One of the picnickers is the eponymous Elly (Taraneh Alidoosti), who is known only to the organizer of the trip, Sepideh (Golshifteh Farahani). It all appears to be smooth sailing for the group, until after a day of fun and frolic, tragedy strikes as one of the kids has a near drowning experience and Elly vanishes! All hell breaks loose, chaos and confusion ensues and mystery shrouds the entire episode, as the group struggle to understand what exactly happened to Elly. The disappearance of Elly consequently ends up revealing cracks in the group's seemingly close-knit relationship, as a panic-driven blame game follows, with lies being exposed and new ones constructed in the process.

Those accustomed to the films of Farhadi would instantly recognize the methodical way in which he designs his screenplay. The trick is to give out just the right amount of information at a time and withhold the rest. That ultimately creates the mystery. But in no way is Farhadi cheating his audiences or taking them for granted, or even misleading them. He is in fact, ensuring that his audiences start thinking aloud. So what do we see of Elly in the final few minutes before her disappearance? Just as much as the rest of the group sees. This way, Farhadi demands active involvement from his audiences; makes his audiences a part of the group facing the crisis.

It is amazing how we find ourselves asking the same questions that the lead players in the film eventually end up asking each other. Cleverly written scenes flesh out the script, compelling the viewer to think. Something is said in the group, there is occasional banter and teasing. Some laugh along, while others seem to take a slight offense, but we don't know that for sure. We can only guess from the way the expressions alter; when a smile turns into a scowl, for instance. The scene is conspicuous enough for the viewer to develop some kind of perception on a character's sense of humour (or lack thereof). Only the speculating process occurs much later, and we find ourselves joining in the discussion of the group, analyzing the vanishing!

And when information is revealed in layers, further questions are raised. There is shock and there is surprise. Secrets rise, and lies are invented to cover them up. Whether these characters are attempting to cover each other or save their own skin is gradually rendered irrelevant. But certain lies are a way of life, apparently in the Iranian society where a lot is forbidden, but a lot can't be done without either. Such lies are perhaps considered harmless bluffs. But how innocuous are they really? Farhadi is perhaps making a statement on how forbiddance leads to an abundance of inveracity.

"About Elly" is less about Elly and more about realistic group dynamics. It is an examination of the unpredictability of human behaviour and how an inherent fragility of any human being is exposed in the face of unforeseen panic. Farhadi explores shifting perceptions, and the tendency to surmise and presume at face value. It is not just his characters who do that, the audiences become partners in crime as well. The screenplay is gripping. Farhadi keeps it taut with a sense of urgency and never lets anything settle or sway towards a side. The urgency is reflected in the camerawork, as it takes a freewheeling handheld form, just as the vanishing incident occurs leading to a bedlam that makes you breathless. The viewer is literally thrown in all directions and interesting twists appear in the right places.

While Farhadi is the real hero of the film, one can't take away from the excellent ensemble of actors who make it all a winning combination. Familiar faces, Shahab Hosseini, Peymaan Moaadi and Merila Zarei from Farhadi's masterpiece "A Separation" (2011) appear and impress in their parts. Saber Abar who appears in a bit part makes a strong impression as well. But it is Golshifteh Farahani who shines yet again in a glorious act to trump all acts. What a fine actress, who puts so much heart into her performance, you can't help but applaud her sheer professionalism!

"About Elly" (2009) is a cinematic triumph and Asghar Farhadi is a ray of hope for the modern Iranian film industry. Let us hope he doesn't vanish from Iran like the rest of them.


Score: 9/10

The Patience Stone (2012)

According to an old Persian legend, there's this magical stone. It is a stone that listens. One could confide their deepest secrets, suffering, fears, everything that they normally wouldn't dare tell anyone. In the process, the teller is relieved of a great load, as the stone absorbs it all, and eventually shatters, thus liberating the teller of a huge emotional burden. This stone then, in a way, lifts a bigger stone off a person's chest. It is called, "The Patience Stone".

French-Afghan filmmaker Atiq Rahimi gives a metaphorical twist to this legend in his "The Patience Stone" (2012), set in a war torn, unnamed land, that looks like Afghanistan. Gunfire and shelling is commonplace, as civilians continue to walk to their destinations even as an explosion occurs nearby! Being hit by a stray bullet is a possibility that cannot be ruled out, but there's no real choice as such. Everyone is living on the edge. Most of the surroundings have been reduced to smouldering rubble. The militia are practically everywhere and there is always a fear of insurgents barging into people's homes. Sometimes when there is news of bombing, the families hide out in an underground cellar.

In such a scenario of a living hell, a beautiful woman (Golshifteh Farahani) nurses her husband (Hamid Djavadan) who's in a vegetative state. The much older looking husband who is presumably a jihadist had taken a bullet to his neck following a squabble and has been in a coma ever since. With the man of the house being in an inactive state for a while, fear, insecurity and loneliness get the better of the woman, as she struggles for even the basics.

Anticipating a deteriorating condition, all her husband's brothers and his mother have fled. Her only aunt (Hassina Burgan) who was always around also seems to have fled for unknown reasons which we discover later. The woman is left to fend for herself and her two daughters with no real help in sight. It is no mean feat to remain composed in such an environment. She starts thinking aloud, and in the process, breaks into long monologues in front of her unresponsive husband. Perhaps she does it to maintain her composure and distract herself from the mayhem outside, but ultimately begins to find a great release in her ramblings, especially since her husband cannot really respond to her words. That's probably the only time, admittedly, that she actually gets to, or dares to talk!

Like any intelligently written screenplay, it is from the woman's stories told to her comatose husband, that the audiences are gradually made aware of certain facts from the woman's past, her childhood, her marriage and motherhood. These facts are not released in a burst but are progressively opened up, thwarting a lot of our expectations and judgements about the woman, her husband, the aforementioned relatives, almost everyone. Therein lies the power of the script to keep us on the edge as our interest escalates progressively, despite a rather mundane beginning.

Most of the film is comprised of the woman's absorbing soliloquy, barring a few scenes cut to other locations via flashbacks and the introduction of certain other important characters. This renders a very claustrophobic atmosphere to the proceedings, accentuating the woman's feeling of being trapped amid the war zone. A melancholic and sometimes tense score accompanies, which is a little unusual, considering the visual minimalism that borders on the style of a docufiction. The editing is noteworthy in how a particular frame shifts from, or overlaps in a present scene with a seamless audio track comprised of the woman's narration.

The woman's husband unconsciously becomes her patience stone, her punching bag, as she recounts the tales of her woes, and opens up about her repressed sexuality by revealing her darkest secrets, unfulfilled desires, marital frustrations, sinful fantasies and morbid wishes. The flashbacks to the woman's childhood evoke memories of Andrei Tarkovsky's "Mirror" (1975) in their somber tone and use of sepia filters. The woman's father's obsession with quails, and gambling with them by exploiting them, reflects the plight of women in an extremist Islamic patriarchal environment.

And this becomes one of the major themes of the film; a strong criticism of the regressive ways of Islamic fundamentalism, and the inherent hypocrisy in all that is done and followed in the name of God and religion. Rahimi reveals it all, and rather audaciously too. If a woman can't give birth to a child, she is considered sterile. The man's manhood is never questioned. Other shocking and appalling customs of the times are revealed. Once the word is given, marriage is possible even in the absence of the groom by marrying the girl off to one of his weapons as a symbolic stand-in for him!

It was considered alright for men to sell their women and daughters, in a gambling bid, but for the woman to even have carnal thoughts is a deadly sin! For in that case, she is possessed by the devil and should seek absolution by the Koran. The woman is then, merely an object of pleasure and servitude for the man. What's worse is, to save herself from being raped by the so-called defenders of their faith, it is a safer option for a woman to say she is a prostitute. In that case, they will spit on her, and move on, saying she soils the name of Muslims. But if she is a virgin or a sterile woman, they would go ahead and violate her just to prove their virility. It is tragic to say the least, a huge slap on the face of humanity.

The central character of the woman comes alive, with Golshifteh Farahani's stunning performance, as she embodies the woman in body and spirit, an unmistakable emotional investment palpable on the actress's part. It is a bold and flawless performance that deserves a standing ovation.

In being a heartfelt lamentation of the sorry state of affairs in lands such as these, the film in turn becomes a confession of the filmmaker to his audiences, as they collectively become his patience stone! In depicting the atrocities and revealing the dark side of humanity, the audiences become silent spectators (read listeners) to the gross injustice inflicted upon the hapless, poor souls in Rahimi's story. Sure enough, this powerful work of cinema leaves us shattered in the end.

Score: 9/10