THE COMPENSATION OF SILENCE

Iran, 2007, 90 minutes, Colour.
Parviz Parastooi.
Directed by Maziar Miri.

The Compensation of Silence is about trauma for the veterans of the Iraq- Iran war. While world audiences are familiar with stories about trauma for American and British soldiers, they need to remember that the soldiers in other wars around the world also experienced this trauma.

The film focuses on a veteran, a lonely man who runs a kiosk for tickets. He remembers his part in the war but has been traumatised, is partly delusional, blaming himself for the death of his comrade. The original novel on which the film was based was called I Was Your Son’s Murderer.

Triggered by watching something on television, he goes to the father of the man he says he his has killed and begins a journey with the old man to try to discover the truth. He believes he will be found guilty and wants the father’s pardon. What happens is that he meets a number of people involved in the war, is put off by a number of contemporaries, especially arrogant editors of magazines and chattering secretaries before he goes to a hospital to find the commander who was shot through the neck and is unable to speak. Face to face with the commander, he is able to remember the dilemma in which he found himself, a troop going through water, wading silently so as not to alert the enemy when the old man’s son was shot in the neck. The commander wanted him silenced because he was a danger to the rest of the group. Yahya of the piece accompanied him and saw the wounded man releasing his wound and so drowning. The man is seen at the end of the film with the father, the father a tailor sewing and the soldier praying. There is a strong religious dimension to the film, especially in the prayer of the traumatised man.

The film is another star vehicle for Parviz Parastooi who appeared to great advantage in a variety of different roles including The Lizard and Weeping Willow.

1.The impact of war? In its time? On the soldiers? The aftermath, trauma, the need for healing?

2.Twenty years later, the picture of the war sequences, the nightmares and Abbar drowning in his bed? Contemporary Tehran, the kiosk, the old man and his tailor shop, the doctors’ offices, the magazine offices, the man who worked the machinery, the hospital for veterans? Authentic atmosphere? The silences and the minimal score?

3.Tehran, the city itself, society? The credits and the range of people coming up to the window to buy tickets?

4.Abbar and his arriving home, his simple routines, listening to the radio, watching the TV, the war and its effect? The detailed presentation of his prayer? On his bed, thinking he was drowning, waking from the nightmare?

5.His decision to go to the father of Yahya? The audience seeing Yahya beckoning him in the nightmare? Underwater? The explanation to the father – and the title of the original novel? His being upset, disturbing the father, the father knowing that his son was a hero and acclaimed, Abbar asking forgiveness?

6.The effect of the trauma, many decades later? Delusional – especially in his dreams? His beginning his journey, the discovery and healing? The sense of urgency? His age, living alone, his work? The detail of tracking down the veterans, the information, his having memories, not having the memories? The man in the workshop, the recollections, the discoveries? The various people who put the old man and Abbar off? Getting the addresses?

7.The secretaries, the chatter on the phone and the disregard? The editor, her putting them off, her rudeness and Abbar’s response to her, her having to think? These people making the couple desperate? The invitation to see the doctor at his seminar – and the lunch vouchers?

8.The experience in the lift, the lift filling with water, his sense of panic, running into the street, being knocked over, his pills going flying? His not being so badly injured?

9.Going to the veterans’ hospital, seeing the commander, his condition, his throat wound and his being unable to speak? The appeal by Abbar? The appeal by the father? Jogging Abbar’s memories, the wading in the water, the group, the need for silence, Yahya being shot, Abbar being his companion, holding him up, the commander and his wanting silence, his wanting Yahya silenced, abandoning them, the panic, their going under the water, Yahya and his removing his hand from his wound, the blood flowing, his drowning? The effect on Abbar?

10.This extended scene, its illustration of war, the strategy of decision-making? Death and selflessness?

11.The simplicity of the end, the old tailor at work, knowing the truth about his son, Abbar praying and at peace?

THE MANLY MOUSTACHE

Iran, 2007, 90 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Javad Ardakani.

The Manly Moustache is an ironic name for a superstition about getting a hair from a manly moustache in order to achieve something. The film focuses on a little girl and a retarded man and their believing in this superstition and their acting on it.

Masume is a six-year-old little girl who wanders around the marketplace, friends with everyone. Her uncle, Khan Amu, is retarded and wants to buy a bicycle. Masume wants to help him. However, her family, the man in the bicycle shop and the other adults around the market are against this. One day, Khan Amu takes a bicycle belonging to a young boy and rides it away. He takes Masume with him. The owner pursues Khan Amu on the back of a motorbike. The police take Khan Amu in.

What happens is that the two decide to get a hair from the beard of a wise old man in order that they might be able to raise the money to buy the bike. The film shows the interactions between the retarded man and the little girl, a precocious and forthright young girl, as well as the reactions of family and all those about. Needless to say, they finally get a hair from a moustache – but they deceive the old man who has the book with the real hair in it and they try to pretend that the one they have taken is the real one. Nevertheless, the bicycle dream comes true.

1.A pleasing and sentimental film? The Tehran setting? The neighbourhood, the people, the families, the market and the buyers and sellers? The musical score?

2.The initial focus on Masume, her talking, meeting everybody, worldly-wise? Her friendship with her uncle? Decision to help him? His putting her on the back of the bike?

3.Khan Amu, his age, size, his mental impairment? Friendship with Masume? The family taking him for granted? His taking the bike, going on the spree, enjoying the ride? Finally crashing? The police taking him in?

4.Masume’s family, the various members, their reaction to the little girl, to Khan Amu, home life, meals? The man in the bicycle shop and his refusal?

5.The dream about the bicycle, the story about the hair from the moustache? Masume getting the book, the hair, the wise man? Losing the hair?

6.All the efforts to find an old man with a moustache, the various requests, refusals? Finally getting the hair – and Masume not being satisfied – with so many attempts?

7.Khan Amu, his personality, cheerful, at home, wanting the bike, the playing with the hairs? His relying on Masume?

8.The owner finally giving in, the bike itself, the gift, happiness?

9.Masume and having to face the old man, pretending to find the hair on the carpet? Having to tell the truth?

10.A genial focus on children and the impaired man? A slice of life, comic and sentimental, in Tehran?

CLICK

US, 2006, 107 minutes, Colour.
Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale, Christopher Walken, David Hasselhoff, Henry Winkler, Julie Kavner, Sean Astin, Jonah Hill.
Directed by Frank Coraci.

Adam Sandler has gone much more ‘up-market’ since his Billy Madison-Happy? Gilmore days. After pleasing the critics in Punch Drunk Love, he acted with Jack Nicholson in Anger Management. Besides his remake of Burt Reynolds’ The Longest Yard, he also tried a less sympathetic role in Spanglish. In Click, he continues in this vein, extending his range to appearing as a fat, ageing, self-centred workaholic.

Click should please Sandler fans and should draw in further admirers. It did particularly well in the United States.

As you watch it, there is a sense of familiarity with the plot and with some of the humour. When a harassed architect who keeps trying to please his demanding boss (a funny turn from David Hasselhoff) meets and eccentric inventor called Morty (Christopher Walken in another of his eerily funny turns), he is given a remote control that can turn voices off at whim, can freeze characters into pause or inaction. He then discovers he can control his life, finding it on a menu like a DVD and, at the jab of a click, he can fast forward or rewind his life. He can skip unpleasant days or months at a time. Needless to say, there are some ultimate catches and to write more would spoil the enjoyment.

However, most audiences will guess that this is a variation on It’s a Wonderful Life, providing our hero with another version of what happens to him. And some of the jokes, especially with upsetting people with the remote, are reminiscent of Bruce Almighty, so it is not a surprise to find that Click is from the same writers, Steve Koren and Mark O’Keefe?. The director is Sandler’s friend from college days, Frank Coraci, who directed him in The Wedding Singer and The Waterboy.

Besides Hassellhoff and Walken, the supporting cast includes Kate Beckinsale as his wife (who shows how one can age gracefully) and Sean Astin as the children’s swimming coach. There are very entertaining appearances (with some pathos) from Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner as Sandler’s parents.

Since the plot takes us twenty years into the future, it is interesting to see how the main characters age as well as to imagine the technology of the future.

Ultimately, this is a modern spin on an age-old moral tale about gaining the world and losing one’s soul – and appreciating what we have because what we might yearn for could destroy us. But, while the moral is serious, the treatment is pleasingly humorous.

1.Adam Sandler and his popularity, his comic style, down-to-earth jokes, spoofs and parodies? His serious persona? This film as a message film?

2.The tradition of It’s a Wonderful Life, the hero, imagining an alternate world, becoming despairing, learning what he had missed, returning to the world and able to make a different life? It’s a Wonderful Life for the 21st century? The technological age?

3.The presentation of the ordinary household, the ordinary present? Home, husband, wife and two children? Parents visiting? Family love? The pressures of the workplace? Overwork, ambitions, pressures from bosses? And the new technology?

4.Adam Sandler as Michael, ordinary, loving his wife and children, neglecting them? Busy at work? The pressures of Ammer, pressure in the workplace – and David Hasselhoff’s performance as the boss? The consequences? At home, neglect, his character, moods? His disrupting the family?

5.The character of Donna, loyal and loving wife, mother of the children, the scenes at home, trying to have discussions with Michael? The children, love for their parents, neglect, concern?

6.The middle of the night, Michael going to the shop, searching for the parts, going to the back room? His discovery of Morty? Christopher Walken in this role, his appearance, way of talking? An angel of death? His character, the visuals? His explanations of the remote, muting the sounds of the dog, zooming past quarrels? The wonders of the remote? The extensive program? Michael taking it?

7.Michael playing with the remote, going past the promotion, seeing the changes in his life, losing the year, his ability to move back and forth, his losing control, the effect on him?

8.Donna in herself, the effect of Michael and his work and promotion? Building up to the divorce? Courtship, her new husband? The effect? Seeing the children, the children in their teen years, typical behaviour, attitudes?

9.Michael and his going into the future, his being stuck in his work, becoming obese, the relationship with Donna and her new husband, his relationship with his kids, the alienation?

10.The build-up to the wedding, Ben and his becoming like his father? Trying to persuade Ben not to be like him? His death?

11.The supporting characters and their contribution: Morty and his intervening in Michael’s life, the significance of his name – an angel of death? Ammer and the pressures of bosses? Michael’s parents and their kindness, not understanding? Bill and his interacting with Michael? Marrying Donna?

12.Michael waking up, discovering that he was still in the present – and the possibility for change and a new life?

CLIMATES

Iran, 2007, 100 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Mohammed Mahdi Asgarpur.

Climates is a psychological thriller. It is obviously modelled on the conventions of such films as Gaslight with Charles Boyer haunting Ingrid Bergman to make her go mad. The same theme was used in the Australian film, Irresistible, with Anne Turner and Susan Sarandon and Emily Blunt.

The film focuses on a wife, wealthy, who is nervy but is being haunted by dreams and seemingly strange incidents. Her husband has heart trouble and is in hospital. During her visits she is also disturbed, receiving strange phone calls.

Audiences would generally think that there was something wrong with her mind, that she was suffering illusions – though gradually the film moves to suggest that something more sinister is taking place. The husband is so sympathetic that audiences would not entirely suspect him.

The film moves to a rather dramatic and brutal climax – and the revelation of the truth. There is a bizarre ending with a road crash which is seen at the beginning of the film and the husband passing by. He drives out into the desert and wanders with his bad heart, leaving the perpetrator of the murder locked in the boot of the car. (Or is this final sequence an imagination as he lies dying in the car accident?)

1.The popularity of this kind of psychological thriller? The mentally disturbed wife? The loving marriage? Suspicions? Hauntings? The final revelation of the truth?

2.The affluent Tehran settings? The wealthy home, offices? Hospital? The city and its background, on the roads, the cars? The musical score?

3.The title – emotional climates?

4.The opening car accident, the red car, overturning, the victim being dragged from the car before it exploded? The ending and Emad, passing in his wife’s car, seeing the accident, driving out into the desert, wandering with his bad heart, leaving the murderer in the boot…?

5.The focus on Sara, her wealth, her loving marriage to Emad, the memories of their visit to India and the photos? His being in hospital and her being disturbed? Her waking up, her dreams? Her being paranoid, going to the psychologist in the institution? The discussions about the suspicious phone calls, the strand of blonde hair in the bed? Her suspicion of one of the nurses? Her relationship to her father, to the lawyers, especially the lawyer who wanted to marry her? The other relations and their visit? Her husband’s partner? (All possible suspects?)

6.Sara at home, the disturbed room, calling the police and all being well? Her discovering the clothes laid out on the chairs? The strange presence in the house? The bridal veil? Her thinking she was mad? Her discussions with her husband, his reassuring her? With her father? Her going to all the fortune tellers – and the range of people who looked at cards, looked at coffee dregs etc? The continued effect on her?

7.As a sympathetic character? Her being a victim? Her loving her husband? Her suspicions – yet wanting to give him rights over her property?

8.The background of the hospital, the doctors, the nurses, the suspicious blonde nurse, the other visitors?

9.The murder, the impact on the audience of Sara’s death? Her husband being in the car and therefore not killing her? The mystery? The irony of his being arrested, in jail, the effect on him, the visit of his partner? His being let out after the discussion with Sara’s father and his compassion?

10.The prosecuting lawyer, the past suitor for Sara, his knowing that Emad was responsible? Their confrontation – especially at the end as Emad drove off in the car?

11.The reality of the plan, Emad’s return home, the woman turning up with the meal, the revelation of what she had done? Her lying to Emad? The visualising of her killing Sara after the wig was torn off? Her not telling Emad the truth? His bundling her in the boot of the car – and leaving her there?

12.The conventions of this kind of melodrama? Plan for greed? Hauntings and murder? Iranian style?

ETERNAL KIDS

Iran, 2007, 118 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Puran Derakhshande.

Eternal Kids is a moving film about a Down’s Syndrome boy. The film initially focuses on his older brother who has looked after him all his life and his plans to get married. He eventually reveals the truth about his brother to his fiancée who is able to cope. However, her parents are quite opposed. Meantime the mother of the two boys is ill and eventually has to go to hospital.

The film shows the Down’s Syndrome boy, the details of his life, his attitudes, behaviour? The film highlights his relationship to his brother and the suspicions about his fiancée? However, the fiancée is very good with the boy and they become friends. When the mother is ill, the boy has to be put into an institution. It is traumatic for him and he runs away. While alone in the city, his comes across drug dealers who use him but then threaten to kill him. He then wanders the city until he is knocked down in a street accident.

The film is highly emotional but not sentimental. In the latter part of the film it borrows themes from Oliver Twist where the boy is exploited and eventually is saved by the compassionate woman.

The performance of the boy is extraordinary and seems entirely authentic. The film highlights the emotional impact of caring for a Down’s Syndrome child, of the emotional demands, of the compassion for human life. The writer, producer and director of the film has made many documentaries. She also made Borderless Love, shot in the United States, as well as A Candle in the Wind.

1.The impact of the drama? Humane? Sentiment? A portrait of a Down’s Syndrome boy? The response of the family? The wariness of others? Institutions and their treatment?

2.The Tehran setting, the city itself, the streets, the wealthy homes, the hospitals, institutions, the dingier side of the city? The musical score?

3.The title? The boy who was to be always a child?

4.The opening of the film, the focus on Saeed and Negar, their discussion about life, design and meaning? The early evening, Negar upset, trying to explain things to her father? Saeed and his phone call, Negar and her trying to get work? Their discussion, going to visit his mother, the warm reception, his taking her to see Ali? The cut to her return home, her dismay, the explanation to her parents, the fact that Saeed had not told them? The hostility of the parents?

5.The focus on Ali, his age, ten years younger than his brother? Their father’s death? Saeed and his sense of obligation for his brother? Caring for him, loving him? The later videos and the boys together? Ali and his mother, her kindness and care? His games, his relationship with Negar, suspicious? Going to the fun fair, his demand for the photos? The framing, his tearing up the photo of Saeed and Negar? Yet Negar adapting to him, his learning to like her, the xylophone and their playing? Eating the spaghetti and the competition and his winning? The possibilities of a future? His being prepared for the visits of Negar’s parents?

6.Negar’s parents, the awkwardness of the visit, the silences, their obvious disdain? Their leaving? The father and his comments to Negar? Saeed and his visit, the explanations? The later visit to the office, his not wanting his only daughter to be involved? The unreasonableness of their attitudes? And yet the basis and their fears?

7.Saeed, a good young man, earnest, in love with Negar? The preparations for the marriage? Trying to be honest about his brother? His concern about his mother and her illness? Her going to hospital? The decision to take the boy to the institution? The reception, the director giving back the toys because the other children could not afford them? His feelings?

8.Ali in the institution, going off, playing with the children, the slippery dip? Saeed watching him? The dormitory, unable to sleep, the boy helping him to pray? The other boy screaming and being sedated? The effect on Ali, his running away?

9.The effect of his running away on Saeed? Going to the police, putting the photo in the paper? Driving around and their concern? The mother and her sense that her boy was lost?

10.Ali, wandering around, the compassionate woman giving him some bread? The bewilderment of being lost? Calling out for his brother? In the park, the woman with the drugs, her idea, bringing him home? Her relationship with the addict, his friends coming round? Her using Ali, taking him to apartments, to the park, putting the drugs in his pocket, the others putting the money? The police not suspecting? His sitting in the park, saluting the police? At home with the woman, her care for him? The spaghetti and his teaching her how to eat it with a fork as Negar taught him? His being at home with her? Her getting him some food, overhearing the plan to kill him, getting him out of the house, his banging on the door? Her sending him away? Her sitting and weeping?

11.Ali and his wandering, walking through the tunnel, the traffic, eventually the hit-run?

12.Saeed and Negar, the search, Saeed driving around? In vain? The mother returning home?

13.Ali in hospital, the visit? Negar and talking about the fun fair, his touching his nose in the gesture for competition with her?

14.The happy ending? Saeed and Negar with their child, with Uncle Ali? The camera rising to the heavens and showing the tableau of the happy family?

15.The opening credits and the end credits, the sketches? As visions of Ali’s world? (And the teacher having explained to Negar the differences in his drawings when he came to accept her?) A hopeful ending?

THE LOCKSMITH

Iran, 2007, 76 minutes, Colour.
Directed by G. Ramezani.

The Locksmith is a moving film about children suffering abuse from their father. The film focuses on a young boy, in his early teens, with the pressures of his abusive father, dead mother, loving grandmother, critical grandfather – with the extended family all observing what was going on.

No reason is given for the father’s violent outbursts. One can presume that he is still grieving from his wife’s death. However, he is brutal to both son and the little girl who cooks for him and cleans the house.

The grandmother urges the boy to go to the police to sue his father. The film shows the reaction of the police, sceptical at first, taking his side and then arresting the father. However, with the father in jail, the rest of the family are upset, issues of family honour, secrecy, the grandmother wanting her son only to be warned, the little girl wanting her father back, the neighbours all criticising the boy.

The film is very moving in it presentation of the situation, audiences empathising with the boy, the responsibilities that he is given, his dilemmas in how to handle them.

The film ends with moments of encouragement – a rather more optimistic ending with some hope than might have been anticipated. A very useful film for exploration of the themes of violence within families.

1.A satisfying drama, portrait of family, children, abuses of violence, a plea for understanding?

2.The blending of the message with the drama? Emotional response? Insights?

3.The focus on Mohammed, his age, his relationship with his father, the memories of his dead mother, his little sister, the grandparents, the cousins, the neighbours? Empathy for him? Feeling for him?

4.The background of the city, the streets, the home, shop, the police station, the school? Naturalistically presented? Real and authentic? The musical score?

5.The introduction to Mohammed and his grandmother, on the city street? Her urging him to sue his father? Worried whether the police would believe her, believe him? Putting pressures on the boy, his inexperience of such action? His going into the police station, his treatment at the desk and the reaction, his having to wait, the young criminals and glimpsing them, his being handcuffed with them, the mistake? Going in to the sergeant? The sergeant and his talking to the criminal behind him, the boy mixed up and answering? The sergeant and his giving him a lecture about obeying his father? The boy not being believed? Going back to his grandmother? The grandmother’s hopes that the son she loved would be warned rather than jailed and that the children would be safe?

6.Going home, having to lie about their being at school, the abuse that the boy received from his grandfather, his criticisms of him as being hopeless? His talking to his sister, the sister cooking the meal, burning herself, not wanting her father to go to jail? The meal, serving it, her father criticising it for being burnt, throwing it away, beating her? The audience not seeing his beating his son? Seeing his face the next morning?

7.His return to the police station, the sergeant receiving him, their going to the shop, the arrest of the father – and his father trying to chase and throttle his son? The father in jail? The boy’s visit, his father’s criticism, the prisoner giving advice to obeying fathers? The bewilderment of the boy?

8.The little sister, at school, her studying and skills, at home, the cooking, burning herself, her interactions with her brother, not wanting her father to go to prison, her tantrums? The teacher wanting her to bring her father? Hiding her brother during the night, giving him something to eat? Getting him to promise to bring the father?

9.The reactions of the relatives, the uncle and his violence, the cousin and his being cheeky, his mother trying to control him, her reaction? Her having urged the boy to report his father? The grandmother and her fears, not wanting her son to go to prison? The neighbours at the shop and their criticism? The blind man and his kind words, spoken to the boy, thinking they were to his father? The uncle and his threats, the threatening to beat him?

10.The boy coming home, fearing to go in, hiding during the night, his sister’s help? Her going to school?

11.The boy’s going to the jail, seeing the sergeant, explaining that his father was free, the sergeant and his treatment of the other prisoners – especially the mother with the troublesome boy? Finding the shop closed, going to the school, pretending that he had to represent his sister, discovering that the father was with the teacher?

12.A feeling for the children? Their situation, their relationship to their father, the people praising discipline and beating children, the glimpses of other criminals, fathers and sons, the authorities, disbelief, the kindly sergeant? The ultimate hopeful ending?

ROBIN

Iran, 2007, 80 minutes, Colour.
Directed by P. Sheikh- Tadi.

Robin is an extraordinary story to come from Iran. It is an interfaith story.

The film portrays a remote mountain village, mountain village, the villagers going about their ordinary way of life – although taking recreation in a struggle between bulls locking horns and crowds urging them on in their fight. However, the focus is on the boys of the village.

One of the boys is persecuted by the others – suggested in surreal-like pursuit which audiences might imagine is a dream but is a boy disguised as a scarecrow. In the background of the village is the religious co-existence of Christianity and Islam. The priest brings a huge crucifix to adorn his church, very proud of it, and the crowds gather to watch. In the meantime, the imam gives advice in the village and the custodian of the Islamic shrine laments that there are not more relics.

The focus of the film is on the death of one of the boys, the tormented boy wants to frighten him and he falls from his donkey and falls down the mountainside to his death. The frightened boy gets his friend who is a Christian to take the cross because he had understood that the breath of Jesus could bring people back to life. The second half of the film is about the carrying of the cross down to the river by the two boys as well as going to the Islamic shrine and taking one of the relics, a helmet with green cloth attached.

There is a lot of discussion about Jesus as Son of God, his death by wicked people, the possibilities of miracles, the nature of life after death. The priest has his views. The imam gives his advice to the boys.

The film ends with the miracle – coming through the clouds and down into the valley a huge sigh that is the breath of Jesus bringing the boy back to life.

The film is very interesting in terms of interfaith collaboration especially in Iran. The 1999 film Son of Mariam is another example of peaceful co-existence between Catholics and Muslims.

1.The interest of the film in religious themes? In the context of Iran?

2.The title, the robin and its being set free, the release of the soul, the robin as a symbol? The other birds in the film?

3.The authentic feel of the village, the boys playing, the bullfights and the crowds, the imam and his position, the church, the shrine? Families and tensions?

4.The surreal introduction, the little boy pursued, his fears, the scarecrow? Discovering the boys at play? Their taunting each other, especially the frightened boy?

5.The religious themes, Christians and Muslims, co-existence, the church, the shrine, the difference of beliefs? The interchange? The tradition of the Bible, the Koran? The place of belief in Jesus?

6.The symbol of the cross, the film giving a great deal of attention to the image on the cross, detail? The cross as an icon? Symbol? The suffering of Jesus? The priest, his arrival like a pilgrim with the cross, going into the church, the crowds, his explanation, unveiling the cross, not allowing the man with the bad breath to kiss it, sending him out of the church? The reaction of the people? Hanging the crucifix in the church?

7.The shrine, the comparisons, the relics in the shrine, the caretaker complaining that it was not as well endowed as the church? The imam, at the bullfight, his position, riding the bike, with people, discussing life after death with the boys? His collaboration with the priest, especially in the search?

8.The young boy and his fear, within the group, playing, frightened, the deaf boy and his eccentricities? His preparing the balloon to frighten the boy? Launching it, the boy falling from the donkey, down the mountainside, trying to save him, the dead boy, hiding the body from the wolves?

9.The effect on the boy, saying he had made a mistake, hiding? The reaction of the village? The donkey arriving empty, the mother and her concern, the father, the search? The mother’s grief?

10.The boy going to his Christian friend? The belief in the breath of Jesus? Miracles and prayer? Their discussions, Jesus as Son of God, wicked people killing him for no reason? The two faiths and traditions? The nature of death and coming alive again? The resurrection from the dead and the view of the imam?

11.The decision to take the cross, the intricate process, it seeming to drop? Whether it was a sin or not? The boy frightened of his father? Carrying the cross and its effect, the long trek, heavy, stumbling? Their discussions? The cross falling down the mountainside like the boy? Into the river, retrieving it? Their going to the shrine, the boy not wanting to take anything, feeling it was a sin, his being dared? His taking the helmet and the cloth? Dropping these relics? Finding them in the water?

12.The Christian father and his anger at the news of his son taking the cross, the search on horseback, finding his son after the boy hiding, giving him a whipping?

13.The priest and the imam and their reactions, sharing the search?

14.The mother, standing on the hill in grief, her decision to shoot the donkey – unable to?

15.The young boy lying beside the dead boy, with the cross? The image of the breath of Jesus, the motion of the camera through the clouds and down the valley? The sound of the breath? The little boy coming alive, the mere suggestion with his fingers moving, opening his eyes? The two boys lying together as the final image?

16.The importance of the icon of the cross and the meaning it was given throughout the film? Miracles and faith?

LIKE A TALE

Iran, 2006, 85 minutes, Colour.
Directed by K. Sinaee.

Like a Tale is a short parable about war – focusing on solutions of peace.

The setting is the 1980s Iraq- Iran war, still very fresh after almost two decades in the minds of the Iranians. The hostility towards the Iraqis is still palpable.

The setting is a very remote village in the border areas and the mountains. Bombardments keep going through the film – which takes place over a period of a day and a half. The film introduces three soldiers, one wounded, the commander, being carried by the others. It also introduces Marod, a teenage boy who takes his goat out to graze every day. In the meantime, his grandfather, almost blind, stays at home while the grandmother goes to the city in a van to do shopping.

The film focuses on the three groups and then brings them together, the soldiers coming to the grandfather’s house, the grandfather forced to take them in, the young boy taken as a hostage. The film develops dramatically as the wounded commander becomes more and more obsessed, the commonsense soldier wants to kill the enemy, the man who resented the commander’s authoritarianism has compassion on the family.

There are sudden unexpected deaths, there is a friendship between the boy and one of the soldiers, there are the local police looking for the Iraqi soldiers – in the meantime the bombardments coming closer.

The differences between the two peoples are heightened because neither understands the other’s language. However, eventually, despite everything, the boy and the young soldier do become friends – even though the ending is tragic.

The film is an interesting film to emerge from Iran in 2006 especially in attitudes towards Iraq, the memories of the history – and the yearnings for peace. The casting and performances are excellent, giving a sense of realism.

1.Iraq-Iran war and the memories in Iran? Still making films after so many years?

2.Themes of war and peace, the war of the 80s, the need for peace, the similarities between the two enemies? The possibilities of understanding and communication?

3.The mountain locations, the desert, the town? The continued explosions getting closer to the house? The musical score?

4.The introduction to the three groups, the soldiers and the wounded commander, their bickering, his shellshock? Carrying him? The dangerous terrain? Morad and his being with the goats, silent and reflective? The grandparents, the house, the son gone to war, his honoured picture on the wall? The grandmother going to town, the minibus, the hot passengers, the driver talking to the grandfather? Later seeing the grandmother in the town, the arrangements for her return?

5.The soldiers, their personalities, the commander and his gruffness? The soldier who used his commonsense, pleading for the younger soldier not to be angry? The young soldier, resenting the commander? Their stances, finding the house, their attitude towards the grandfather, brutal, not understanding the language, the boy coming in, binding them? Taking their food, the young soldier wanting respect, asking them how they would want their parents to be treated? The issue of the goat, the soldier building up the tension, the commander ordering its death? The grandfather and his plunging, the shootings? The pathos of the deaths?

6.Morad, his age, experience, not being able to read well, his father at the war? With the goats, coming into the house, being tied, fears, not communicating, getting the candles, the lantern burning the floor? His witnessing the deaths? His reaction to the soldier, angry at the goat’s death, being persuaded to eat, the bonds growing, the target practice with the Coca- Cola bottles? The safety catch on? The possibility of shooting the soldier? The soldier explaining the gun? His saving the soldier?

7.The locals, the man on the donkey, coming to the cemetery? The authorities arriving, Morad and his putting them off? Helping the soldier hide? The return of the authorities, again Morad helping?

8.The soldier, ordinary, respectful of life, only eating after the goat was dead? His sleeping, the possibility of Morad shooting him? Helping Morad with the gun? Hiding from the authorities? Hiding in the marsh – and his drowning?

9.The final images of the boy and his lamenting the death of the soldier? His grandmother’s return? Her concern about the house? The futility of war in terms of human suffering?

NA PUTU (ON THE PATH)

Bosnia, 2010, 90 minutes, Colour.
Zrinka Cvitesic, Leon Lucev, Ermin Bravo, Mirjana Karanovic.
Directed by Jasmila Zbanic.

In her Golden Bear award winning film (and winner of the 2006 Ecumenical Award), Gbavica, writer-director, Jasmila Bjanik, raised the issue of women raped during the 1990s Balkan wars and the fate of children from the rapes. The film contributed to changes of the law in Bosnia.

Four years later, she looks at Sarajevo and Bosnian society to examine how it has dealt with re-building. How much does the West influence Bosnian life – and many secularised Muslims – with its more open morality, its materialism and its sense of personal freedom? How much does traditional Islam influence modern Bosnia? And, more to the point here, how does a renewal of stricter living of Islam which intends to purify (as well as isolate) the devout while emphasising the dominance of men and the subservience of black-clad women wield an influence?

These themes were to the fore in Berlinale films about the Berlin Turkish community, Shahada (Faith) and Die Fremde (When You Leave).

This film focuses on Luna, a flight attendant, modern, pretty, comfortable, and her partner, Amar, a flight controller with a fondness for drink and joviality. When suspended for an error, he literally crashes into a friend from the war years who offers him a job, teaching computers, at a camp for a Muslim group of very strict observance. Amar becomes absorbed in this new way of life, an antidote, with religion, prayer, control, to his life during the war and after. Luna cannot understand this at all.

The screenplay presents the options clearly, detailing manners, customs, clothes, music, rituals, to make their point. But the key issue is marriage according to ritual and pregnancy within marriage.

On the Path (of Islam) also means pregnancy, the situation in which Luna eventually finds herself. It shows how change is occurring and how resistance to change (and western permissiveness) is also taking hold.

1.Bosnia, post-war? Fifteen years on? Society, the trauma, recovery and rebuilding? The new generation? Culture and traditions?

2.The western influence in Bosnia, the influence of traditional Islam? The aftermath of communism? Strict fundamentalism, devout Muslims, the isolated groups, the Saleefa and their camps? The accusation of training terrorists?

3.The city of Sarajevo, modern, ancient, the streets, clubs, apartments? The mosques?

4.The lake, its beauty, isolated, the camp, education and training, a Muslim sect? The Koran? The men and women, the separation? The women enclosed? The men and prayer? The imams?

5.The introduction to Luna, looking in the mirror, the camera, examining herself, a woman, wanting to be pregnant? Her work as a flight attendant? Amar, his relationship with his wife, the sexual relationship, inability for pregnancy, visit to the clinic, his sample, the clinical result? The possibility of artificial insemination?

6.The introduction to Amar, as a flight controller, his working with Luna, drunk on the job, the phone call and his singing? The tribunal, suspended for six months?

7.Luna and her being upset, Amar admitting his mistakes? Going rafting with the friends and the exhilaration? Crashing into the car of the friend from the war, Bahrija? His calmness about the accident, identifying himself, in strict Muslim dress? His wife completely in black? Luna thinking she was a Ninja? Bahrija making the job offer? Luna against it?

8.Luna and the visit to the camp, Bahrija’s wife? Their discussions? The barge, the isolation, the tent, the clothes, her walking, swimming, spying on the men? The reactions of the other women? The various styles of dress? Showing their hair or not? Amar and his work, remote, Luna leaving?

9.Bahrija, soldiers in the past, the experience of the war, Amar not contacting his friends, talking with Bahrija, going to the mosque? Bahrija and his prayer, his song to the gathering of the men? The women listening? His wife and her help? The young woman, the second marriage, it being against civil law, Amar and his stating that Allah’s law was more important than civil law?

10.Luna, at work, on the flights, her moods? Her friends, going to the bar and talking things over, their puzzle, setting up the artificial insemination? Amar’s return, accompanying his wife? Luna finally changing her mind? Her fainting, the irony that she was pregnant? Amar thinking it impossible – because God was punishing them with infertility because of not having a Muslim marriage? Luna not sure about keeping the baby?

11.The friends and their talk, the past, coping? Luna revisiting her house, seeing the young girl? Her anger against God, her parents’ death?

12.Amar, going to the mosque, prayer at home, not explaining things to Luna, the sexual encounter and the pregnancy? Their meeting? Luna not understanding, asking Amar to come back to her?

13.The scenes with the grandmother, her wise advice, the celebration of Eid, the gathering of all the friends, Amar’s presence, his rant against permissiveness?

14.The end, Amar and his future? Luna and her future? The possibility of reconciliation?

15.The post-war Balkans and rebuilding? Showing how? The West, the music during the credits, all that is sin according to the strict Muslims? Islam, secular, the strict observance, purifying from sin, religion as a sect, the judgmental attitudes and the implications?

THE CRAZIES

US, 2010, 101 minutes, Colour.
Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker.
Directed by Breck Eisner.

George A Romero, of the Living Dead films, made a small film in the early 1970s which had good reviews and something of a cult status, The Crazies. Almost 40 years on, here is a remake that brings the story up to date.

As remakes go, this is a pretty good one, and not a bad terror story either.

Set in a small midwest town, the film opens with streets and buildings on fire and people running amok. It then goes back 48 hours to show how disaster struck – and continued.

The heriff is an upright man and his assistant loyal and helpful. The sheriff's wife is the local doctor and is pregnant. The baseball match is going on. On to the field comes a man with a shotgun and a quietly crazed look. The team and the watchers flee for cover and there is a shootout. Then someone else seems mad. A house is burnt down. Communications are cut off (although the audience knows that someone is watching this town with a kind of google earth device).

Where the film works well is in the writing and the performances and the growing tension. Some explanations are discovered – human error and not something weird or from another world or the supernatural. Masked military arrive to take charge and herd the residents into trucks to intern them or to kill them.

Finally, of course, there is a remnant trying to reach safety against impossible odds. Plenty of tension with the mystery of what is going on and how this all came about.

Timothy Olyphant (who can be villainous or cynical in roles) brings a sturdy integrity to the role of the sheriff with British Joe Anderson very good as Russell, the Deputy. Australian Radha Mitchell is the wife and doctor.

Familiar enough but much better than the average film of this type.

1.A remake, updating? The transition from the 70s to the 21st century? Satisfying?

2.The tradition of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, mysterious virus films, the Living Dead? The variations on these themes?

3.The background of the American military, experiments, the intentions, dangers and accidents, consequences? The isolation and destruction of a town and its population?

4.The quality of the film, dialogue, characters, performances, suspense?

5.The framework of the destroyed town, the fire? The flashback to forty-eight hours earlier?

6.The introduction to David, to Russell, their work as the police, the small town, law and order, the baseball match, the ethos, the fans and support? Seeing them at work?

7.The introduction to Judith, her work as a doctor, her discussions with Becca, her various clients, friendships? Her being pregnant?

8.The baseball match, the deranged man coming onto the field, the threat, David having to handle it, the man’s behaviour, the threat, David shooting, the reactions, the team and the crowd leaving, the coach and the principal bewildered? The effect on David, the next day, Judith’s advice? His worrying? Back at work? Going to the morgue, the anger of the dead man’s wife and son (and their later attacks on David and Judith)?

9.The other infected men, the man in the cell, the family concerned, his setting the house on fire? The increasing violence?

10.The plane, the crash, going out on the lake to find the plane, above it, the aerial shot of the sunken plane? Studying the water system and distribution? Making contact with the outside world, losing it, the town being isolated? The military secrecy?

11.The scenes of maps, satellite photographs?

12.The effect, the people and the drinking water, their losing their minds, becoming sick, the violent attacks? The Living Dead? Mayhem? Destruction, fire?

13.The military, the appearance of the men, in uniforms and masks? Going to the houses, rounding up people, David and Judith? The vehicles and the mass transport? The interning in camps? The myriad deaths, the range of bodies? The military and their masks – and the taking of the soldier in the barn, removing his mask, his saying that they had been warned not to remove their masks because of the danger of the virus in the air?

14.The women, taken away, separated, children separated? Judith and Becca, the violence, tied to their beds, the violent man with the pitchfork? The attacks? Russell and David and the rescue?

15.The rapport between Russell and David, David and his strong sense of responsibility, for the town, Russell as the deputy, following orders? The rescue of Judith and Becca?

16.The group having to be shrewd, going across the fields, getting the car, hiding, the carwash and the terrors, the helicopter destroying the car?

17.The effect on the group, their being pursued, Becca and the sudden violence of her death? Russell discovering he was sick, the gun, suspicions? His final self-sacrifice and distracting the military from Judith and David?

18.Judith and David, the store, getting food and water? The violent men – previously seen out duck-shooting? Their reactions and their deaths?

19.Reaching the city, everything seeming normal? The television announcer, the information about the town – and then the TV faltering…?

20.How effective a film as horror, terror? With a message about human nature, victims, survival, the role of authorities and their going beyond their mandates in developing weapons with deadly consequences?