RIFLE RANGE BOY

Unbelievable (Miniseries, Season 1. Netflix, 2019) The epilogue in a Twilight Zone episode in its first season titled 'The Monsters are Due in Maple Street' goes like this... The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices – to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill – and suspicion can destroy – and a thoughtless frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own – for the children – and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is – that these things cannot be confined – to the Twilight Zone. It tells of a Martian experiment where a junior alien officer explains a scheme to create chaos on Earth to his superior. He suggests planting the seed of doubt to weaken and win over Earthlings. Planting a seed of doubt is a dangerous thing. This uncertainty breeds suspicion of conspiracy. Putting two and two unrelated events suddenl...

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' ...