esrosedotblog

DO THE RIGHT THING

Today's film is the Iranian award winner, very high on the IMDb ratings and a NYTimes Critics' Pick

Jodaeiye Nader az Simin / A Separation (2011)

This is an Iranian film made in Iran by Asghar Farhadi

That having been said, I must also say that it is a blatant indictment of life in that country. One of those films that on the surface is perfectly acceptable to the authorities and the censors because it spouts all the correct Islamic law stuff and shows all the customs being observed in detail. Even for the more fundamentalist folks. And, as a result it is a land mine that got exploded the minute that they OK'd it.

It looks benign to authority because it does not make a rebellious statement. It just shows how things work, how they are in the country.

On the other hand it is a family drama which shows how each family member must make decisions for themselves when trouble comes. In this case in a conflict between conservative practice and a more modern family which has become, perhaps, too modern and educated for its own good.

A wife, having had enough, gets a permit to leave the country but the husband will not leave with her because he must care for his Alzheimer's father. A plum part incidentally. Watch him. The old guy.

The authorities will not grant a divorce so that the wife can leave without the husband and so the question becomes who will take custody of their adolescent daughter.

A home care worker comes into the scene when the wife leaves to go leave with her parents and it is at this point that the trajectory is set for a collision of values, a weighing of truth and justice and the happiness of the people in the family as well as the family of the domestic worker.

This film is dynamite.

The acting is perfect. Everyone is trying to do the right thing more or less calmly. It does not work. There is not even any slither room for getting past the obstacles that are thrown up by the state and religious law. Authority.

This is a 5 out of Netflix5 for sure. I would want to see it again and experience the discomfort of seeing what could happen here. What is happening there. First to women, then to families and then to life itself.

And, when all is said an done, it is a thriller. You cannot see "it" coming. Neither can they.