Brezhnevian Iran--see the film
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 1:05AM THE ARTS: "Iran's Tensions, Foreshadowed in Its Cinema," by A.O. Scott, New York Times, 20 June 2009.
CULTURE: ("Movies: 'The Stoning of Soraya M.') The Accused: A controversial new film looks at the treatment of women in Iran," by John Jurgensen, Wall Street Journal, 20-21 June 2009.
Reminds me of the way Russian films revived in the late 1970s and 1980s:
From the early 1990s until the middle of this decade, the work of Iranian filmmakers caught the attention of critics, cinephiles and festival juries around the global as Iran's historically rich movie culture, largely dormant during the Islamic revolution and the long way with Iraq, entered into a remarkable period of rejuvenation.
Arguably the most famous filmmaker of this time period, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, is now one of the spokesman for Mir Hussein Moussavi, the opposition candidate in the recent election. The reformist (sort-of) president of Iran from 1996-2004 (Mohammed Khatami) was the minister of culture who helped launch this cultural thawing.
What did these films show?
You see class divisions, the cruelty of the state, the oppression of women and their ways of resisting it, traditions of generosity and hospitality, and above all a passion for argument.
A typical Iranian film can feel like one long series of family quarrels . . .
Tell me this society isn't similar to Israel's.
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