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Reviews
Nattvardsgästerna (1963)
God's Silence
By Ismail Salami Veteran director Ingmar Bergman is immensely obsessed with belief and unbelief in most of his films and this film is no exception. Thomas (the pastor) is a man who fails to deliver fiery sermons simply because he has lost his faith and is going through an infernally spiritual conflict. Even when Jonas (Max Von Sidow) comes to seek his help, he fails to offer him any help whatsoever. Instead, he even intensifies the crisis he is going through and soothes his doubt about the coming holocaust and leads him onto the path of suicide, the idea of which he had been long entertaining in his mind. Embattled and agonized by his religious doubts, Thomas tries to avoid the amorous hints of Marta who keeps lavishing her attention on him.
In this film, Bergman is intent on offering a solution to man's dilemma: religious doubt, which is even justified by Jesus' doubts on the cross. Jesus' statement on the cross 'O God, O God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?' reverberates throughout the play as if the whole characters are experiencing the same spiritual ordeal as Jesus Christ. There are times in every man's life when he comes to question God's justice; God is silent to man's sufferings. It is like God is silently watching the sorrows and sufferings of man without actually wishing to do anything about them.
Man in the universe is remotely far from God, the Creator. This is the point where his spiritual crisis begins. Bergman believes that man has to come closer to God through love in order that he may achieve peace of mind.
Sham'i dar baad (2004)
Sufferings of the lost generation in Iran
A Candle in the Wind (Sham'i dar Baad) The film describes the sufferings of the lost generation in the Iranian society. The youths have lost their way and are seeking a path into the light. They are dubious of their surrounding and the people who surround them simply because they have failed as true guides to the youths. They are selfish and seek their own egoistic aspirations regardless of the hopes and aspirations of their offspring. A Jungian approach to the film is appropriately applicable. According to Jung, people wear persona or masks to conceal their true identifies. Needless to say that these masks are imposed by the society and the milieu in which they live. Furthermore, people wear such masks in order that they show a favorable face to the people around them. Farzin (Bahram Radan) is manifestly disillusioned due to the disintegration of his family and his discovery of the true identity of his parents. He sees no hope ahead and consequently pins his remaining hopes on the girl who is different from the rest of the others and is altruistic enough to spend her time and money in a charity institute she has started. Yet to his despair, the girl who does not belong to this world or say she is too much for this world soon departs and leaves him a complete wreck. Farzin, now a hopelessly shattered being, seeks solace in the company of his friends who have lost their identity in a similar way.
The father of the family (Jamshid Mashayekhi) who does not even bother to listen to his son or pay attention to his desires is responsible for what happens to him. His mother (Azita Hajian) who is alone thinking of finding a way out of her own miseries becomes oblivious of Farzin's expectations. She is equally responsible as her husband in bringing about this bitter sense of despair in Farzin. In order to while away the time which heavily weighs upon him, Farzin indulges in narcotics and is brought on the brink of complete destruction when he is ultimately saved by his elder step-brother who has come back from abroad for his father's mourning ceremony. Farzin eventually reconciles with life by continuing the charity institute initiated by the girl he loved, thereby instilling a meaning into his empty life.
The film laments the sufferings of a neglected and disillusioned generation threatened by an impending danger of psychological breakdown and loss of hope.
The stellar cast remains no room for any verbal praise.
Boof-e koor (1975)
An audacious attempt in film-making
Boofe koor or The Blind Owl is a very complicated novel and to translate it into a cinematic form requires adroit skill and keen perception on the part of the director to catch all the delicacy of this masterpiece. Yet, I believe, as an audacious attempt to cinematize this novel, the director should be congratulated. This novel is like a web of multiple meanings and the director has apparently had a great understanding of the novel. His film somewhat conveys a rather just depiction of the novel. The performances are fabulous especially that of Parviz Fanizadeh who always proved to be an able writer. Perhaps a plot of the novel may help to indicate the very grandeur of it.
The novel has never ceased to fascinate the readers although they may have never been able to understand the different layers of meanings embodied therein.
The narrator represents an intellectual in the society who looks for ideals which are no longer chained to 'this savage world.' The surrealistic ambiance of the first section contributes to the notion that the ideal world is gone for ever and the narrator wakes up only to find himself in an earthly and down-to-earth life.
His nanny represents the past ill-founded beliefs and superstitions which keep tormenting the narrator while his wife represents the fallen values of the society. Hedayat was a great enemy of traditions and traditional beliefs and this novel is an egregious attack on those values. To him, these beliefs and so-called social values should be discarded and buried so that man can live at peace with himself.
The whole novel, more like a nightmarish journey into Hades, is an internal journey in the course of which the narrator loses his ideals and degenerates into a lowly being which he always upbraids.
The influence of The Blind Owl on modern Persian fiction is so powerful that the rest of writers are at loss to escape the inevitable grip. Audacious though it may seem, Modern Persian fiction was born out of the works of a legend called Sadeq Hedayat.
Wuthering Heights (1992)
great adaptation
The film is a rather faithful adaptation of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. Juliete Binoche is simply great and Ralph reminds one of Larence Olivier in the old version of the film. Even though the film was a short one, it proved to convey the true spirit of the novel. There are some breath-taking scenes e.g. when Heathclif takes out his anger and hatred on young Catherine and Harreton. a difference which I noticed was in the manner of narration. There is one flaw, I believe, in the making of the film, that is, the pace of first part is very fast and the viewer may find himself/herself at a loss to sympathise with Catherine or Heathclif. In the original text, the story is narrated by Mr. Lockwood. In this film, Mr Komisnsky proved that he is capable of breathing a visual spirit within the body of a text.