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SILENCE
BETWEEN TWO THOUGHTS
5+/10
Sokote
beine do feks : Iran 2003 : Babak PAYAMI : 95 mins
Payami’s achingly
serious follow-up to acclaimed absurdist comedy Secret Ballot is
- as that forbiddingly enigmatic title indicates - a cerebral, challenging,
ambitious piece of (very hard) work, one whose glacial pace may prove
too testing for even the most hardened arthouse denizens. Writer-director
Payami adopts a frustratingly oblique approach to narrative, purposefully
and persistently withholding information and placing many key events just
outside the edge of the frame. Aiming for the timeless air of fable, the
film unfolds in an unspecified, semi-desert landscape: shooting took place
near the city of Bam, only months before last autumn's devastating earthquake.
The narrative
is simple, and a competent editor could condense the plot to a third of
the 95-minute running-time (Payami had to reconstruct the film via video
after the original print was reportedly confiscated by Iranian authorities).
In a ten-minute opening shot, a young soldier (Kamalan Narouli) - obeying
the orders of tribal-leader Haji (Moazen') - executes two men. But as
he aims his Kalashnikov at the third condemned prisoner, Haji imposes
a stay of execution. He has discovered that this (female) "criminal"
(Maryam Moqadam) is a virgin, and to kill her would mean sending her soul
to heaven. Haji’s devises a cruel solution: the executioner must marry
his "victim" - who he would then have to kill after their union's
consummation. But Haji’s plan is imperilled by the encroachment of opposing
armed forces, and also the not-so-happy couple's dawning feelings of resistance
and affection.
Payami takes
an idiosyncratic angle on some very topical issues: religious dogmatism
is his main target, and his rigorous austerity is unwavering in its presentation
of injustice and exploitation. The script's dialogue is as stark as the
drought-ravaged landscape, and Payami's control of image and sound - and
their interaction - is no less careful and deliberate, Farzad Jodat's
camera tracking with painstaking care over indoor and outdoor environments.
At other times the frame remains fixed on certain tableaux for so long
that the viewer has little option other than to tease out the scene's
latent symbolic elements. Except, perhaps, to walk out.
29th May,
2004
(seen 17th January : Fokus Cinema, Tromsø – Tromsø International Film Festival)
by Neil
Young
the above
is a rewrite (for Tribune magazine) of the original article
written (in conjunction with S.Nahid and C.G.Munch) for the website of
the Fipresci organisation of international film critics.
click here
for a full list of reviewed films from the Tromsø International Film Festival
2004
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