Ten (Persian; 2007)
Director: Abbas Kiarostami
No, this is not Bo Derek starred 1979 romantic comedy! It is an Iranian minimalist movie done by an Iranian filmmaker extraordinaire, Abbas Kiarostami. Due to a rather hostile environment in Iran, moviemakers have to resort to ingenious ways to film without creating much of public fanfare.
It basically involves two cameras placed in the dashboard area; one pointed at the driver and another at the front passenger of a car. There are ten snippets involving the main character, a woman, and her interaction with her son, her sister, an elderly lady, a prostitute and a friend. We overhear her conversation with the various characters. From their conversations, as they travel through the streets, we can make a composite picture of her life and the life of the ordinary people in Iran.
The woman (the protagonist) picks up her son. Through their conversation, we realise that the woman has divorced her husband by falsely proclaiming that he was a drug addict. As the Iranian courts are biased against women, this was a sure-proof way to get her divorce. The son is obviously crossed with her mother for remarrying. He has no qualms in displaying his resentment in what most parents would view as showing disrespect, deserving a smack at the behind!
In another scene, after picking up her son from his father's place, she discovers that the father is single and spends time watching pornographic films. This shows us that, despite the image that the leaders of the country seem to portray, Iran as an examplar of an Islamic nation and all, things are not all rosy there.
A conversation with her sister reveals that Islamic ladies in Iran are not just vessels of subservience. They too have desires and would like to pamper themselves and live life to the fullest for themselves, not the society.
At another drive, she picks up an old lady who is on her way to a mausoleum (shrine). Here, the conversation goes along religious lines. It appears that not everyone is as religious that they would to be. Many find solace in religion for hope, not as a form of paying homage to cajole the prying eyes of the Protectors. Aren't they just the rest of world?
An interesting conversation took place when she picked up a drunk sex worker. They converse about the sin and the guilt about the oldest profession in the world, which the prostitute had none. It took her along with life and gave her support. She narrates her experiences with cheating husbands and the worthless utterance of the word 'I love you'. People do not say what they mean and do not mean what they say. Nobody owns anybody; everybody is free. Life is a trade between the wholesalers and the retailers; the wholesalers referring to the abundance of opportunities available outside the sanctity of matrimony versus the authorised retailers sanctioned by human laws.
One more scenario shows a young lady heading to the same mausoleum as before to pray for her wish to be fulfilled. She is hoping that her elusive boyfriend with taking the plunge and propose. She was so hopeful. So you can imagine, in another scene, how devasted she was when she told the driver that her boyfriend decided to call it quits, citing illogical reasons.
The film ends with the son again in a conversation with his mother. We soon realise that his way of thinking mirrors that of a misogynistic adult. He would probably grow up to be one of the patriarchal figures in a male-dominated Islamic world. We also realise that women in these societies also have and like to show their defiance in their own ways. When will it give? People are same everywhere. We can give a facelift or re-branding but deep inside they are all the same. Control over their thinking only works for a particular time. We cannot fool everybody all the time.
Director: Abbas KiarostamiNo, this is not Bo Derek starred 1979 romantic comedy! It is an Iranian minimalist movie done by an Iranian filmmaker extraordinaire, Abbas Kiarostami. Due to a rather hostile environment in Iran, moviemakers have to resort to ingenious ways to film without creating much of public fanfare.
It basically involves two cameras placed in the dashboard area; one pointed at the driver and another at the front passenger of a car. There are ten snippets involving the main character, a woman, and her interaction with her son, her sister, an elderly lady, a prostitute and a friend. We overhear her conversation with the various characters. From their conversations, as they travel through the streets, we can make a composite picture of her life and the life of the ordinary people in Iran.
The woman (the protagonist) picks up her son. Through their conversation, we realise that the woman has divorced her husband by falsely proclaiming that he was a drug addict. As the Iranian courts are biased against women, this was a sure-proof way to get her divorce. The son is obviously crossed with her mother for remarrying. He has no qualms in displaying his resentment in what most parents would view as showing disrespect, deserving a smack at the behind!
In another scene, after picking up her son from his father's place, she discovers that the father is single and spends time watching pornographic films. This shows us that, despite the image that the leaders of the country seem to portray, Iran as an examplar of an Islamic nation and all, things are not all rosy there.
At another drive, she picks up an old lady who is on her way to a mausoleum (shrine). Here, the conversation goes along religious lines. It appears that not everyone is as religious that they would to be. Many find solace in religion for hope, not as a form of paying homage to cajole the prying eyes of the Protectors. Aren't they just the rest of world?
An interesting conversation took place when she picked up a drunk sex worker. They converse about the sin and the guilt about the oldest profession in the world, which the prostitute had none. It took her along with life and gave her support. She narrates her experiences with cheating husbands and the worthless utterance of the word 'I love you'. People do not say what they mean and do not mean what they say. Nobody owns anybody; everybody is free. Life is a trade between the wholesalers and the retailers; the wholesalers referring to the abundance of opportunities available outside the sanctity of matrimony versus the authorised retailers sanctioned by human laws.
One more scenario shows a young lady heading to the same mausoleum as before to pray for her wish to be fulfilled. She is hoping that her elusive boyfriend with taking the plunge and propose. She was so hopeful. So you can imagine, in another scene, how devasted she was when she told the driver that her boyfriend decided to call it quits, citing illogical reasons.
The film ends with the son again in a conversation with his mother. We soon realise that his way of thinking mirrors that of a misogynistic adult. He would probably grow up to be one of the patriarchal figures in a male-dominated Islamic world. We also realise that women in these societies also have and like to show their defiance in their own ways. When will it give? People are same everywhere. We can give a facelift or re-branding but deep inside they are all the same. Control over their thinking only works for a particular time. We cannot fool everybody all the time.
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