[lit-ideas] Guardian Unlimited: Film mocking the mullahs is a hit in Iran
- From: omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 11:13:04 +0000 (UTC)
Omar spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.
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Note from Omar:
Mocking the mullahs -it's heartening, I think, that such a film can be shown.
O.K.
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To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to
http://www.guardian.co.uk
Film mocking the mullahs is a hit in Iran
Dan De Luce in Tehran
Wednesday April 28 2004
The Guardian
A comic film that dares to mock the powerful Islamic clergy has become a
surprise box-office hit in Iran's staid theocracy.
The Lizard, which tells the story of a thief who escapes prison by posing as a
cleric, has struck a chord in a society where satirising mullahs has long been
strictly taboo.
Tickets for the film sold out days in advance of the opening last week in a
country where cinema attendances have declined sharply in recent years.
Tehran cinemas have added extra showings after midnight to accommodate demand
for the film.
"It's popular because of the sole fact that people are not accustomed to
someone in such a special position in the community being made light of," the
film's director, Kamal Tabrizi, told the Guardian.
"In other countries, it's an old joke. But here, it's new."
Before last week, there were persistent rumours that the film had been banned
by state censors, who vet every film and book to ensure compliance with
"Islamic values".
Initially, the film was approved by the ministry of culture and Islamic
guidance but after its premiere at the country's international Farj film
festival in February, the ministry launched a review and cut four scenes,
totalling one minute, Tabrizi said. The opening was delayed for two months to
avoid any conflict with the mourning period during Shia religious holidays.
The head of the country's judiciary, Ayatollah Mamoud Hashemi-Shahrudi, known
as a hardline ideologue, viewed the film in advance with many other senior
figures in the clerical establishment. Some of them brought their families to
watch, Tabrizi said.
The main character, Reza the Lizard, greets a woman as a "chick" until he
corrects himself and refers to the American film maker Quentin Tarantino as
"brother Tarantino". The satire stops short of the jugular though, and the film
ends with the hero finding God.
Some clerics have complained bitterly about The Lizard, but Tabrizi said others
have approached him and praised the film as carrying an important message.
"Clergy have told me: 'You have touched upon our weak points in our relations
with people'," Tabrizi told the Guardian. In the film, Reza attracts a large
following at a struggling mosque with his sermons in blunt, street language
even though he has to fake the Arabic chants.
"People find a connection with him. This is what the clergy sometimes lacks
...," Tabrizi said. "If you take the upper hand, you become isolated. You have
to be with the people, to get close to them."
Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
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