This is the début feature by Mamad Haghighat. He is a respected Iranian film critic and historian, author of "Histoire du Cinéma Iranien", ("A History of Iranian Cinema"), published by the Centre George Pompidou in 1999. Mr. Haghighat has contributed enormously towards the promotion of Iranian cinema in France. For his first film, he has chosen "Music" as its theme. For many it is a thorny issue as it is believed that it is forbidden in Islam to play music. "Two Angels" is about the lives of two youngsters who are passionate about music. One of the characters is a poor boy from country side. He is interested in playing a musical instrument called "Ney" which is similar to a flute. Although his deeply religious father is against the idea of music, he gets support from his sympathetic mother. This boys shares his passion for music with a rich girl too. It is she who helps him enroll for music lessons with fatal consequences ......... For "Two Angels", Mamad Haghighat who is based in Paris since 1978, had complete artistic freedom. This is the reason why this film is aesthetically quite different from other Iranian films for children produced by KANUN (Iranian Institute for the Development of Children and young Adults)
2 Reviews
Engaging but Messy Tale about Music and Angels
claudio_carvalho9 May 2010
In the countryside of Iran, the poor fifteen year-old boy Ali (Siavash Lashkari) has frictions with his violent and retrograde religious father Hussein (Mehran Rajabi). When Ali meets a shepherd playing Nay in the field, he falls in love for the music and steals the musical instrument from the man. He tells his mother that he is interested in leaning how to play Nay and his mother sends him to a music school in Tehran. The naive Ali befriends the wealthy student of Daf Azar (Golshifteh Farahani), who is also enthusiastic about music. When Hussein discovers that his son is playing Nay, his stupidity leads the family to a tragedy.
"Deux Fereshté" is an engaging but messy tale about music and angels. The story of a poor teenager that loves music against the will of his religious father probably makes sense to those more familiarized with the Iranian culture. I am not sure whether there is censorship or it is the style of the director and writer Mamad Haghighat, but there are many open and never clear situations along the story. Based on the reactions of Hussein and of some passengers in the bus, my understanding is that those that are backward and religiously fanatic do not accept music. Unfortunately the conclusion is senseless and never clear with excessive use of symbols, and the viewer never knows whether Ali has really died or not. My vote is four.
Title (Brazil): "Dois Anjos" ("Two Angels")
"Deux Fereshté" is an engaging but messy tale about music and angels. The story of a poor teenager that loves music against the will of his religious father probably makes sense to those more familiarized with the Iranian culture. I am not sure whether there is censorship or it is the style of the director and writer Mamad Haghighat, but there are many open and never clear situations along the story. Based on the reactions of Hussein and of some passengers in the bus, my understanding is that those that are backward and religiously fanatic do not accept music. Unfortunately the conclusion is senseless and never clear with excessive use of symbols, and the viewer never knows whether Ali has really died or not. My vote is four.
Title (Brazil): "Dois Anjos" ("Two Angels")
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