Between 1995 and 2006, Iranian director Jafar Panahi was winning some of the
most respected prizes on the European film calendar: the Golden
Lion in Venice, the Silver
Bear at Berlin and even the Caméra d’Or
at Cannes. But due to his (supposedly)
controversial narratives and ongoing defiance against his home country, he was
arrested in 2010 and banned from filmmaking or leaving Iran. His films eventually had to be smuggled out
of the country on USB keys hidden in cakes…
His latest offering is a rebellious
documentary-style film set in broad daylight in Tehran with Pahani playing
himself as he drives across the city in a taxi picking up and dropping off
various characters. Firstly he has a
chauvinist man and a liberal female teacher discuss capital punishment and
making anexample of criminals; then a fan of Pahani who sells pirated American
DVDs; then a dying man who wants the other passengers to record his video last
will and testament; then Pahani’s niece who is making a short film for a school
project… All of the stories revolve in
some way around watching or documenting: the one thing that Pahani is banned
from doing.
Whereas Western filmmakers use the
artificial ‘realism’ of the mockumentary technique (or the dreaded
“found-footage” cliche) in order to appear
more authentic, Panahi has to film discreetly under governmental dictate. Most of his characters in his world
(including him) are all interested in films and filmmaking as a basic human
right (or at least fascination). At one point
his niece lists a number of rules that her teacher has given her for her
filmmaking project, which are worth listing in full:
- Respect the headscarf
- No contact between men and women
- Avoid sordid realism and violence
- Avoid the use of a tie for good guys
- Avoid use of Iranian names for good guys – instead use sacred name of the Islamic saints
- Avoid discussing political and economical issues
She then declares that the most
important advice is that “If we notice anything problematic, we should censure
it” – clearly anathema to Pahani’s filmmaking philosophy.
The very beginning of the film shows a
POV shot out of the windscreen as the taxi drives around Tehran, before the
camera is rotated to look inwards and the action begins. The end of the film has the opposite effect
with Pahani’s final passenger offering a rose to the viewer before turning the
camera back to the street, bookending the mini microcosm of action in the taxi
and returning to the business of the city streets. This visual metaphor of literally turning the
cameras in on themselves is exactly what all (good) filmmakers do: extract specific human dramas from a vast populous
canvas, and still make a universal message.
I would hate this idea to be clumsily
recreated in America.
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