A SEPARATION written and directed by Asghar Farhadi (Iran, 2011)
It may be politically sensitive at the moment for the U.S. to acknowledge anything good coming out of Iran, but if there is better foreign language movie to deny A Separation an Oscar then I really would like to see it.
It is common for successful ‘foreign’ movies to be remade in the cinematic lingua franca of English but one of the strengths of Asghar Farhadi’s film is that, while its themes are universal, it is nevertheless imbedded in Iranian culture.
Can you imagine an American actress phoning a religious help line to find out if it is sin to change the soiled clothes of an old man suffering from Alzheimer’s? Would a Western audience be convinced that swearing upon the holy book would cause such trauma?
Equally, there are not many movies anywhere in the world that would so powerfully raise issues surrounding truth, justice, honour, sin, mercy and guilt.
Nothing in the movie suggests that the Iranian regime is any more repressive than other countries although you can fully understand why an intelligent young woman like Simin would find the theocratic system intolerable. Continue reading
