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.

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.

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.

A tour promo

Journey to Italy (1954)
Director: Roberto Rosselini
Continuing in her 'outcast' years in Italian neo-realism, Ingrid Bergman continues with another movie which essentially showcases what Naples has to offer to tourist - the villas, museums, the morbid past history and lazy pace of life. In this setting, Katherine and Alex (Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders), a British couple married for 8 years, drive to Naples to dispose off a deceased relative's property. We can see that they are undergoing a rough patch in their relationship. Their going to Italy and taking a long journey is their attempt at reconciliation and rekindling the spark. It obviously does not seem to be working. This uppity couple arrive in their Bentley driving through the country roads complaining about the bugs and unruly drivers.
While waiting for a potential buyer, they mix with the upper crust of society, the rich, bourgeois and royalties. All that relaxing does not mend their relationship. On the contrary, it just invokes more hatred, jealousy and annoyance with each other.
They try separate itinerary for each other; Alex goes to Island of Capri, Katherine visits various museums. All in vain. Alex is a cynical critic whilst Katherine is a hopeless romantic.
When all attempts fail, they decide on a divorce. As they plan to return home, they are caught in a religious street procession. Miraculously (divine intervention or otherwise), as Katherine is caught in a stampede. Alex who goes to her rescue and both realise that the flame is still there.
 Rosselini's movies that he did with Bergman has these undertones that mirror their sordid relationship which was admonished by the general public. Even though his five films with her never reached the accolades achieved by his earlier films (Rome, Open City, 1945 and Paisa, 1946), his later films nevertheless never lost its artistic value. Pandit Jawarhalal, impressed with Rosselini's filmmaking of involving the lay people, invited him over to India to make a film on India. His attempt was cut short after Rosselini, whilst married to Bergman, created an international controversy by seducing a married Indian filmmaker's wife (Sonali Das Gupta). It also effectively ended his union with Bergman.

The letter that ignited the greatest love story between two individuals at the peak of their careers.

Dear Mr. Rossellini,
I saw your films Open City and Paisan, and enjoyed them very much. If you need a Swedish actress who speaks English very well, who has not forgotten her German, who is not very understandable in French, and who in Italian knows only "ti amo", I am ready to come and make a film with you.
Ingrid Bergman