Iranian film: a window into politics

Iran, as we learn more and more with each passing day, is a more complex state than many in the West have recognized. It is not, or is not only, a rigid theocracy run by "mad Mullahs." It is also a nation that flirted with democracy for much of the 20th century and that harbors a cosmopolitan artistic culture, although those artists often clash with authorities.

At Foreign Policy, the writer and film buff Abel Kerevel offers a list of "The Top 10 Iranian Movies to Netflix this Weekend." His suggestions reflect just how wide-ranging the themes of Iranian cinema can be.

Splits between urban and rural views of the Iranian government may be contributing to the present unrest. (Or not: the experts disagree.) Kerevel's first recommendation, "The Cow," or "Gaav" (1969), directed by Dariush Mehrjui, was enormously influential, Kerevel writes, because of its daring exploration of the hardships of the rural poor, presented in a French-influenced New Wave style. "Perhaps not the most entertaining movie," Kerevel warns, the film's protagonist is a destitute farmer so distraught by the loss of his cow that "he begins to think he is the cow." The Shah banned the film, believing that it presented Iran as a nation of hicks. But it was reportedly a favorite of the Ayatollah Khomeini, whose affection for it may have saved Iranian cinema after the 1979 revolution, as many radical Islamists wanted to shutter all movie houses.

And cosmopolitan Iran? It's reflected in the sensibility of "The Snowman," or "Adam-e Barfi" (1997), directed by Davoud Mirbagheri. Banned from 1994 until 1997, when the reformist Mohammad Khatami became president, it tells the story of an Iranian man stuck in Turkey who desperately wants to get to America. His plan: cross-dress and seduce an American man into marrying him! Conservatives attacked some theaters that showed "The Snowman." Remarkably, however, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei came out and said that he did not object to the film.