For the film lovers on the list

[Paul Mackin]

On 3/19/2012 12:50 PM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:
> I just saw A Separation yesterday - it was playing across the street from a nursing care facility my elderly dad's in, and I needed relief.  At first, I was dismayed to learn that the story revolved around the care of an elderly man.  But then, as Mark said, the knotting into began.  It's a fantastic movie.
>
> I've learned to read reviews after, rather than before a movie, because even the most erudite reviewers are individuals, not ubermenschen, and they often steer us wrong.  What surprised me (or maybe it shouldn't have) about many of the reviews I read is that the reviewers felt obligated to take swipes at Iran or Islam, even as they admitted that the movie was so much more.
>
> Most reviewer saw it as a social drama about adapting to life under Islam, class, gender, etc.  Some lesser reviewers called it a melodrama or soap, nothing more. But the overwhelming message I got from the film was that, in the most complicated conflict (uh, would that currently be Israel vs. Iran?), there are solutions, but they require extreme patience, sensitivity and understanding.  Mark, have you read any reviews that take a political view of the film?
>
> Laura

This anonymous reviewer in the NYRB saw the film in Teheran, took it 
seriously--more than a family drama, which it is in part. Was surprised 
it could be shown in Tehran, where he or she saw it on a visit.

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/sep/22/tattered-lives-divided-iran/

P


"The grim irony at the heart of Farhadi’s film is that the angst and 
perplexity are the fruit of a “sacred” republic of ideals. Here is the 
signal failure of the ideological state that Ayatollah Khomeini set up 
thirty-two years ago, promising truth and redemption for all, but whose 
children are still waiting for these things, trembling and alone."









>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Paul Mackin<mackin.paul at verizon.net>
>> Sent: Mar 19, 2012 11:53 AM
>> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>> Subject: Re: For the film lovers on the list
>>
>> On 3/19/2012 11:17 AM, Mark Kohut wrote:
>>> JUMP CUT (but association from the Subject line):
>>>
>>> See A Separation if you have not. Were we talking about
>>> a knotting into and moral centers?....The moral and character
>>> subleties---and quotidian surprises---of this movie might cut to
>>> your bone marrow.
>>>
>>> Integrity, lies--for a greater good?---moral (and pragmatic) choices
>>> within an intricately knotted society......priceless............
>>>
>>   Sounds like a good fit for me.  Also movies with subtitles are greatly
>> preferred nowadays because of annoying trouble decoding anything but
>> American English spoken by people over 30.  Significant hearing loss is
>> a real social handicap. Advice to young'ens--take care of your hearing.
>>
>> P
>
>