Showing posts with label iran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iran. Show all posts

Wednesday, 25 June 2025

When two tribes go to war...

Tehran University students, 1971.
https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/xmjn15/
tehran_university_students_iran_1971/
Persia's love affair with the Jews dates back to 593 BCE, when Nebuchadnezzar plundered Jerusalem and took the Jews as slaves to Baghdad. He attacked Jerusalem again ten years later, destroying the First Temple and completing their captivity. After spending seventy years in exile in Baghdad, Cyrus liberated them, allowing their return to their homeland. In gratitude for helping the Babylonians, Cyrus enabled the construction of their Second Temple.

Throughout the generations, as Persia was overrun by various empires, including the Abbasid Islamic Dynasty, the Jews remained part of the Persian diaspora during the glorious days of Islam. The Islamic invasion did cause some Jews and Parsees to flee their homeland to various places, including India. Nevertheless, the Persian-Jewish relationship persisted into modern times. The Islamic Empire would claim that the Jews were very content living under the Empire. However, in reality, it is anybody's guess if the present-day opinion of Muslims about Jews is anything to go by.

Iran opposed the Palestine Mandate that aimed to establish the Jewish state of Israel in 1948. Many Persian Jews migrated to the newly formed country of Israel. Interactions between Iran and Israel remained cordial, though they were mainly transactional. Iran was among the first countries in the world to recognise Israel as a sovereign nation. Israel secured oil and finances from Iran, as maintaining a friendly relationship with Iran made considerable sense. It is important to note that the Israelis' neighbours, all of whom were Arabs, were quite hostile. The Persians have always held a sense of superiority, believing themselves to be one step above the Arabs. Therefore, maintaining a good relationship with a major non-Arab, non-Sunni country was crucial.

In the early 1950s, Iranian Islamists criticised Iran's diplomatic relations with Israel and actively collected donations for the Palestinians. They were unhappy with the Shah's close connections to Israel. The Iranian defence system used Israeli arms and was involved in their wars with Iraq. Both countries were also deeply engaged in developing each other's nuclear facilities. All of this changed after the Islamic Revolution in 1979. 

Suddenly, Israel became a 'cancerous tumour' as mentioned by Ayatollah Ali Khameini in 2000 and should be wiped off the surface of the Earth, according to President Ahmadinejad in 2005. Iranian hostility towards Israel grew over the years, mainly via proxies, in Hezbollah, Hamas and Houthis. The climax of all these must surely be Hamas's kidnapping of Israelis at a music festival on October 7, 2023. Finally, a full-scale war between Iran and Israel broke out on June 13, 2025, when Israel conducted strikes against Iranian nuclear and military targets. The world is once again at risk of a nuclear meltdown.




Sunday, 5 January 2025

A lie is a lie.

About Elly (Iranian; 2009)
Director: Asghar Farhadi

Sometimes, we think a white lie would not hurt. Along with the lie, we squeeze in a little mischief. We justify our lying by convincing ourselves that it is all good in the grander scheme of things.

Little do realise of its repercussions. To cover the embarrassment of one's untruth being discovered and maybe to uphold the white lie, there is a need for more untruths. The trouble with truth is that it has a funny way of showing up at all the wrong times.

The lattice of lies will eventually crumble. Unless the individual has perfected the art of the sleigh of hands, the bluff will fall flat.

To add insult to injury, God forbid if anything untoward happened, all the blame would fall squarely on the person who initiated the white lie and the good intentions!

This is precisely what happens in this story. Old classmates, three couples with their kids and another divorced classmate decided to spend a few days by the beach. Sepideh, who organised the rushed trip, decided to include her daughter's kindergarten teacher. She was hoping to match her to the divorced friend. As conservative as the society was, Sepireh chose to tell the caretaker of the beach bungalow as four couples, the fourth being the kindergarten teacher and the divorced classmate who were on their honeymoon.

With all the confusion of the children being all over the place and the adults running around organising things, a child runs to his father, trying to say that one of the kids is drowning. Panic ensues. Everyone goes looking for the child and is saved from drowning. The kindergarten teacher, the adult caring for the kids, cannot be found anywhere. Did she drown in trying to save the child? Did she run away from them after discovering that she is suited to the divorcee? Then, a man appears in the picture as the teacher's fiancé.

Sepideh soon realises her mistake when her bluff falls flat, especially when the police get involved, and the caretaker learns that the fourth couple is unmarried.


Tuesday, 21 March 2017

Of what is expected...

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?

Friday, 28 October 2016

They just don't understand!

Khane-ye doust kodjast (Persian, خانه دوست کجاست, Where Is the Friend's Home?; 1987) \
Directed and written by Abbas Kiarostami


This film is the first of Kiarostami's Koker trilogy. Just like its successors, it brings to the fore the day to day living, beliefs and trappings of a typical Iranian in its poor countrysides. This time, it looks at it from the eyes of a young school boy, Ahmadpoor.

He has a big burden on his shoulders. He had brought home his friend Reza's writing book by mistake. And he is worried for his friend. His teacher had specifically told Reza that he would be expelled from school if he persistently neglects to finish his school homework. So, as a loyal friend, Ahmad feels duty-bound to pass the book to him.

The trouble is that Ahmad's overworked mother keeps asking him to mind his baby kid and do chores around the house. His pleas to his busy mother are drowned in the wailing of the crying child. So, when his mother asks him to buy bread, he makes a dash to his friend's house. Herein lies another problem. Reza lives in another area. Nobody seems to know the whereabout, like as if the adults would know about the whereabout of the kids! It is worse when he does not know his surname and his address.

After much running around meeting different characters, Ahmad returns home disappointed. So as a good friend, he does his friend's homework and passes it to him at school. And saves the day!

It is the same story over the years; the adults think that the kids are having such a cushy time and that they (the adults) had it bad, and the kids think that adults just do not understand their urgency! The adults would say, "small things excite small mind". On the children's end, those little things are the very ones that shape their world. This, my friend, is called generational gap.

Saturday, 24 September 2016

When will it give?

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.

Wednesday, 24 August 2016

And that is life...

Life, and Nothing More... (1992, Persian,  زندگی و دیگر هیچ Zindagi va digar hich)
Director: Abbas Kiarostami

This film is considered the second instalment in the Koker trilogy - the first, being 'Where is the friend's home' (1987) and the third is 'Through the Olive Tree' (1995). It is a semi-documentary film that narrates the tale of a movie director and his son who return to the site of the first film to locate its actors. They revisit the area, which in real life, had been hit by a devastating earthquake. It showcases how people in this tragedy hit zone find solace in continuing their lives.

Devastation is everywhere. Loved one are dead and dreams are shattered. Homes are destroyed, and the remaining water supply is rudimentary. But, life, the essence of our existence continues. People still manage to put on a smile. They still marry even though it is still within the 'mourning period'. Their rationale was that the dead did not see it coming, but the living had to continue living. They still kept their faith with the tuft of hope that the Almighty would not abandon them.

The kids in this film, despite the heart-wrenching misery around them, as far as the eyes can see, are all excited, just as much as the adults, when a TV antenna is installed in the relief camps to view the remaining matches of The FIFA World Cup.

Life has so many diversions to keep sanity in people - weddings, meaningless soccer games and God. The last scene in the offering sums up the whole philosophy of life. The director's car struggle to scale the steep hill that it has to take to reach Koker. A passerby, himself struggling with a cooking gas tank over his shoulder, helps him to push his car. The director, once he got his car in order, offers him a ride to ease his burden. That is life and nothing more.  We struggle, we persevere with the curveballs hurled at us, we stay resilient, and we fight back to come up tops again, another day. That is the spirit of the human race.

Wednesday, 10 August 2016

Reason to live

Taste of Cherry (1997, Iranian)
Director, Written, Produced: Abbas Kiarostami


This may not be your typical movie that you may want to watch to unwind to retire from the stresses of life. It is a slow moving neorealist minimalist movie which is typical of many Iranian films. This time around, the whole movie is shot within and from the confines of a Range Rover. The scenery outside is no Garden of Eden but the drab landscape of a quarry. Apparently, this method had to be done as there were many restrictions in filming there in Iran.

This movie has no beginning and no end. This is very much like our daily lives. We live a fraction of time only to experience a brief moment of the world, and we pass, only to have our places taken over by a new pair of recruit. The main character of the movie, Mr Bodii, is seen wandering around town in his SUV, looking for a pair of helping hand. He seems picky with the person he wants to hire. We are left wondering what type of support he is looking. Many of the people he tries to pick are also wary of his intentions, suspecting him of a kind of a wacko, politely decline. He finally gives a ride to a Kurdish soldier who has a sob story to tell about his family back in Kurdistan. Mr Bodii finally puts forward his proposal.

We are not made aware of the preceding events, but Mr Bogii intends to commit suicide. He is, however, not very sure that he will build up the courage to do the act. He offers a significant amount of money to the person who is willing to partake in his scheme. He had dug a hole for himself. He planned to consume overdosing amounts of sleeping pills at night if he builds the courage and sleep in the hole. Come 6 o'clock the following morning; the hired is come to the hole to call for him. If there is no reply, Mr Bogii is presumed dead. The hired is suppose to cover his body with earth. If Bogii awakens, it means he had chickened out, but the hired still gets the coveted cash!

The shy Kurdish soldier bolts off upon hearing his proposal, thinking that it is some trap. Next, he approaches an Afghani seminarian, a man of theology. He listens to his plan patiently and states his reservations about attempting suicide, giving his circumstance of being a man of faith who is supposed to uphold the teachings of Islam. He tries to dissuade Bogii from his cowardice act. When he fails, he politely leaves.

The highlight of the movie would be his conversation with a pragmatic Turkish taxidermist that Bogii met at the Natural Museum. He had it to do it to finance his son's medical expenses. The Turk totally understood his predicament as he had once attempted suicide himself. He had tried to hang himself on a mulberry tree. He tasted the fruit on the tree. The fruit tasted so good that he abandoned his plan and had plucked the fruits for his family and re-lived life after that. He tried to impress the joy of staying alive and enjoying the world's beauties. On the other hand, the Turk also realised that, just like the birds that had to be killed to be stuffed for people to learn from, some sacrifices had to make in life.

The deal was made. What followed next left to the audience's imagination. Bogii stops at his hotel/apartment to take his pills. He takes a taxi to his hole. He lies down in the hole in the ground. The screen goes blank for a good two minutes. We hear the splatter of rain, roar of thunder and bolt of lightning. Our imaginations run wild. Did Bogii or did he live? Did he get up in the rain? Did he have to walk away to hide from the pouring rain as he had not brought his SUV? Was he too overdosed to be aware of the rain?

Sometimes, the smallest thing gives you a reason to live!

In the next frame, the whole dry, barren soil that was seen earlier appears brighter with little more vegetation. Soldiers are seen marching, and a filming crew is seen to be busy. Guess what? The director and Bogii are seen discussing something. End?

Sometimes, the smallest thing gives you a reason to live!
The story is left to many interpretations. Perhaps, the writer is telling us that rules and laws are made by armchair critics who have not been faced with the situations that they are presiding. The soldier, who is the upholder of orders, feels compelled to follow all that he has been taught without flinching. You are not supposed to commit suicide. Period. So is the theologian. The good book says something; it is our duty to follow. It is not ours to ask. Our nimble minds cannot apprehend such profound wisdom of the Book. It is not our position to query and ridicule. The bar is always lifted when it affects us. The Turk, being in the same limbo as Bogii, in wanting to end his life, can concur with him and is willing to assist. This perhaps is where support groups may be of use to sufferers of a certain ailment or affliction. People in the same boat may be in a better position to help fellow strugglers to combat their enemies.

Tuesday, 25 August 2015

The play maker's autobiography


The Sea and the Hills 
The Life of Hussain Najadi (An Autobiography; 2012)

He survived the feared Bahraini intelligence who worked under the hawkish eyes of their British colonial masters as he stirred his leftist ideas after the Algiers uprising through his rebel movement at the age of 16. The Bedouin travellers took a special liking to his as he escaped to Beirut through the mirage inducing hostile environment of the Arabic desert and its scorching heat. Somehow he even escaped the infamous Iranian SAVAK police. The storm aboard the vessel along the Mediterranean Seas did not dampen his spirits. By twist of fate he missed an ill-fated Swiss flight which crashed soon after take-off. And he averted an invitation aboard a Filipino flight which later crashed. He even survived an automobile accident on the notorious Malaysian highways. To cap it all, he even endured 8 years of imprisonment in a Bahraini prison after incurring the wrath of its royalty.

He raised the ladder of success and fell off it as quickly he climb on it again. This man's life story is a classical case of rag to riches - a son to a Persian immigrant fruit seller in the markets of Manama raising to levels where he mingled with world leaders and royalties and decided the destiny of many emerging economies and countries.

Sadly many of near misses, from which he was saved simply by 'kismet' (fate) and his mother's constant prayers, came to a tragic end in 2013, a year after this book, when he was shot in the back under mysterious circumstances in Kuala Lumpur.

Growing up in the British protectorate of Bahrain, it was a time of uprising. The colonial subjects have awoken from their slumber. They demanded self administration. Battle of Algiers set the nidus for the young to rebel. A young Hussein got himself entangled in the leftist activity. Working in a British petrol refinery, he had to abscond from his native country. Just like how his father had left Iran for better life in Bahrain with a young wife, Hussein had to run, but for his life. With plans to start life anew in Germany through a contact at his work place, he had worked out his itinerary.
A young Hussain Najadi meeting Tun Razak

He travelled through the brutal Arabian desert to reach Beirut. All through his travels, we get a feel as if there is guardian angel constantly by his side to pave his future, constantly clearing his path and meeting him with the right people.

His initial plan to travel to Germany was cut short through a chance meeting with a Persian gentleman who just happened to be walking in a park. A cursory conversation and next thing he knew, Hussain was flying to Iran. The gentleman turned out to be the Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon! Hussain was referred to the leading bank in Teheran. He started his career in banking, enjoyed the good life and started working with the Canadian embassy a researcher. His stint was cut short by SAVAK, the Iranian secret police for his earlier political work in his homeland. He dashed out before he could be apprehended. Back he came to Lebanon. Broke, he finally made it to Germany by sea.

He blended nicely into the German culture at a time as Germany was making amends and trying to make it for the lost times after the devastations of a world war. Working in Mercedes Benz factory and learning the language and with the cordial relationship with his adopted family, he felt quite at home.

The next step in his life turned to be another turning point in his career/life. He join an international company in Switzerland selling mutual funds. It was something new to the Arab world. At a time when the Middle East was plush with money from the black gold, he travelled to the Bahrain now as an employee of a multinational company. His modus operandi has always the same - when you approach someone, always see someone with a lot of clout; and remember, people always want to hear what they like to hear! He also became an international player when he revitalised an ailing Swiss company making hovercraft (hydrofoil).

With many feathers in his cap, he became a deal maker. Being charismatic and multilingual, he moved with ease in the circles of royalties and dignitaries. He even try to broker the entry of an Italian petrol giant into Middle East to break the hegemony of the Anglo-American oil cartel, The Seven Sisters.

His hydrofoil business spread to Far East and he soon relocated to Singapore. There, after selling his company for a fortune, he set a business deal in Singapore. Slowly, his services were needed in his last home country, Malaysia, where he established Arab Malaysian merchant bank and even try to get International Islamic University off the ground with funds from Middle East investors.

Going through his life story, one cannot help but to think that it is too good to be true. Everything seem to fall nicely the way he wanted to. With so many adventures, suspense, element of surprise, bosomy blondes, marriage, near misses and politics, it has all the ingredients of Hollywood blockbuster. Even after his death, his name seem to herald the death knell of a certain current politician....

I could not help but notice that by omission or commission, there seem to be a discrepancy in events surrounding his near miss mishap in the 1963 Swiss Air tragedy and Enrico Mattei's aeroplane accident. It is said that the Swiss Air incident preceded Mattei's purportedly planned assassination. In actual fact, Mattei's jet plane crashed in October 1962 whilst the Swiss accident was in September 1963!

Monday, 8 September 2014

A case most unusual

Close up (Persian, 1989)
Director Abbas Kiarostami
This film opened the highly high quality Iranian cinematic scene to the Western world. In fact this drama-documentary like offering is hailed by some as the best Iranian film ever made. It uses the Italian type of neo-realism technique of film making and the French way of self expressionism to get its message across.
The director heard of an unusual case of impersonation in a magazine and decided to cease his shooting and to cover the events. A jobless make stand accused of impersonating as a famous director, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, to lure a middle class man into acting.
The accused is a self professed crazed fan of Makhmalbaf, who whilst travelling in a bus, told a white lie to the lady of the Ahankhah family and pretty soon befriended the family. One lie after another, the accused, Hossein Sabzian, managed to obtain some money for his alleged filming.
The family became suspicious when he was not aware of 'his' recent conferment of a prestigious award. The police were informed and the film starts with the event of his apprehension. Slowly his misdemeanor is told in the proceedings of the trial.
The film portrays a very humanistic picture of the accused without vilifying him. It is a joy to follow the trial which is carried out in a very civilized manner without lawyers screaming for blood.
Perhaps after this I will try to watch more Iranian films.

Wednesday, 2 May 2012

From Mesopotamia with love!

Nader and Simin: A Separation (2012)
Suppression of expression, oppression, restriction and poverty are said to be strong motivators for artistic expressions. If that is true, then looking at the number of good films and great directors being churned out of Iran since the days of the Shah, you would be forgiven if you thought that living condition in that country was appalling and has not changed.
This movie, a winner of the Foreign Film category of the Academy, starts with a couple (Nader and Simin) at divorce court applying for a divorce. Simin (the wife) wants to leave the country for better life for her and their 11 year old daughter whilst Nader (husband) refuses to barge as he has to care for his father with Alzheimer's Disease. Nader also refuses to allow his daughter to migrate. Simin leaves her husband to stay with her family.
A Separation 2011  Movie PosterAfter finding high and low for domestic help to care for the father, Nader finally hires Houjat, a financially challenged lady with a short tempered and debt stricken husband to help out. Her first day of work proved too challenging for Houjat. She discovers that the Nader's father is also incontinent and she had to clean him up. It poses a challenge and she actually calls the religious hotline to clarify whether it was a sin to clean him up!
She suggests Nader to hire her cobbler husband instead. Unfortunately, the husband is arrested he following day and Houjat had to return to work the next day.
Houjat brings her young daughter to work as well. While cleaning her up, she discovers that the old man had left the flat. She manages to locate him in the streets and bring him home.
On the following day, Nader and his daughter come home to a locked flat with his father restrained to the bed but had fallen off the bed. Houjat returns much later to an angry Nader who accuses her of neglect and stealing some petty cash (was actually taken by his wife earlier to pay some movers) and pushes her out of the flat.
The next thing Nader hears is that Houjat is in hospital fighting for her life after having a miscarriage. Nader is looking at 1 to 3 years of imprisonment for indirectly causing a death of a 19week old foetus. A court hearing (a very informal one) is arranged. This is where the real story of the movie and issues crop up. Nader claims that he did not know that Houjat was pregnant whilst his daughter knows that he knew before hand. There is unresolved issues between daughter and father on morality, telling the truth, how law interprets the 'truth', the reality of  the uncared ailing father, etcetera. Simin returns home to help out the husband's problem.
After much anger and drama, Simin arranges for monetary compensation for Houjat and family. Nader, initially reluctant on the fear of admission of guilt, relents but with the condition that Houjat swears on the Quran that his pushing from the flat actually caused the miscarriage! Houjat crumbles. She refuses, even at the insistence of her husband to just swear and take the money, fearing curse befell on her daughter. Apparently, the day before the incident, while trying to locate Nader's father on the road and pulling him off the busy street, she was hit by a car. She felt pain that night and was the reason for her disappearance on the day in question - to consult a doctor!
The charges were all withdrawn.
In the next scene, Nader, Simin and their daughter are back in the divorce court. The daughter is asked to choose to stay with either of the parent. She requests to state her preference without her parents in the room. Nader and Simin wait outside the room while the closing credits roll in...... The end.
A gripping film without the usual unnecessary exposure of aurat. Also missing are the overacting and melodramatic overhype of most Indian movies are guilty of. The plus point of the movie is simple story and the intricate complexities tied to it. In life, there is no clear demarcation of who is good and who is bad. People do what they do based what is available to them and the turmoils that revolve around their daily lives.
Maybe my wife would not like it - no good looking guys, no flashy clothes, no flesh to show, no set dance, no dancing music....



99% fresh rating on 'Rotten Tomatoes'

“Be afraid. Be very afraid.”*