Forushande (The Salesman, 2016, Persian)
Director: Asghar Farhadi
A wise man once said that we should not pass judgement when we are angry. Instead, we should suspend sentencing until we have cooled down. At the heights of emotions, our faculties are blurred, our vision is clouded, reasoning is obscured by raging hormones. Sometimes, there is pressure from without to act or set an example out of a scapegoat! And there would be a group who would insist that God's justice must be done on Earth, so as not to incur His wrath.
It is funny how the bar always changes when the affected party is our own flesh and bone. And how we ask for leniency when the offending is our kin!
Perhaps if we could be in the shoes of the other, we would realise how, sometimes, things are just not so black or white. This is exactly what advocates against capital punishments are trying to say.
In keeping with the Iranian tradition of making simple movies with profound meanings, 'The Salesman' moves slowly without much fanfare or melodrama. Emad, a secondary school teacher, and his young wife, Rana, have to move house as their apartment falls apart when a digger starts digging nearby. They move to another apartment recommended by a friend. After school, Emad and his wife act in a stage drama, Arthur Miller's classic 'The Death of a Salesman'.
One day, Rana leaves the door open thinking that it is her husband, only to be molested by an unknown person. This incident really shakes the previously harmonious matrimony. Emad cannot understand why his wife is so badly affected by the incidence. He cannot inform the police as his wife cannot fathom the idea of reliving the whole event again. Emad is also concerned what his neighbours would think of him as an incapable male of the household. He is also crossed with his friend for introducing the new apartment which was formerly occupied by a prostitute.
The perpetrator, in his hurry, had left his car keys behind. Through that and help from his student's father's help, he managed to track him down. It turns out that the molester is actually a middle-aged man, at his weakest moment, went in search of the sex worker who used to stay there thinking that she was still residing there. Panicked with the wrong identity, he scooted only causing Rana to panic and injure herself.
The dilemma that Emad has to endure is distinctly palpable, to decide between revenge, compassion and the need to mete justice as expected by social circumstance.
Just like play 'The Death of a Salesman' where the main character works till he drops dead believing in what he thinks is the right thing to do, the traditional values which our ancestors held close to their hearts may just need to be reassessed.
Nothing in this world can be so cocksure. Even when something looks so clear cut, there could still be a place for an element of doubt. We judge by our senses but how many times our senses have fooled us?
Director: Asghar Farhadi
A wise man once said that we should not pass judgement when we are angry. Instead, we should suspend sentencing until we have cooled down. At the heights of emotions, our faculties are blurred, our vision is clouded, reasoning is obscured by raging hormones. Sometimes, there is pressure from without to act or set an example out of a scapegoat! And there would be a group who would insist that God's justice must be done on Earth, so as not to incur His wrath.It is funny how the bar always changes when the affected party is our own flesh and bone. And how we ask for leniency when the offending is our kin!
Perhaps if we could be in the shoes of the other, we would realise how, sometimes, things are just not so black or white. This is exactly what advocates against capital punishments are trying to say.
In keeping with the Iranian tradition of making simple movies with profound meanings, 'The Salesman' moves slowly without much fanfare or melodrama. Emad, a secondary school teacher, and his young wife, Rana, have to move house as their apartment falls apart when a digger starts digging nearby. They move to another apartment recommended by a friend. After school, Emad and his wife act in a stage drama, Arthur Miller's classic 'The Death of a Salesman'.
One day, Rana leaves the door open thinking that it is her husband, only to be molested by an unknown person. This incident really shakes the previously harmonious matrimony. Emad cannot understand why his wife is so badly affected by the incidence. He cannot inform the police as his wife cannot fathom the idea of reliving the whole event again. Emad is also concerned what his neighbours would think of him as an incapable male of the household. He is also crossed with his friend for introducing the new apartment which was formerly occupied by a prostitute.
The perpetrator, in his hurry, had left his car keys behind. Through that and help from his student's father's help, he managed to track him down. It turns out that the molester is actually a middle-aged man, at his weakest moment, went in search of the sex worker who used to stay there thinking that she was still residing there. Panicked with the wrong identity, he scooted only causing Rana to panic and injure herself.The dilemma that Emad has to endure is distinctly palpable, to decide between revenge, compassion and the need to mete justice as expected by social circumstance.
Just like play 'The Death of a Salesman' where the main character works till he drops dead believing in what he thinks is the right thing to do, the traditional values which our ancestors held close to their hearts may just need to be reassessed.
Nothing in this world can be so cocksure. Even when something looks so clear cut, there could still be a place for an element of doubt. We judge by our senses but how many times our senses have fooled us?
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