Stories about middle-class family life have always attracted more attention, such as "Mrs. Kramer" in early Hollywood, "American Beauty" later, and "Revolutionary Road" in recent years. The middle class is a group of people occupying the mainstream social class in Western countries. Through them, the ecology of the whole society can often be reflected. Therefore, such a theme itself has advantages, but it is not very easy to dramatize the trivial and complicated details of life, which requires the strong skills of the screenwriter and director. Fortunately, the United States is a country that advocates freedom of speech, and almost any topic can be discussed. In a country like Iran or China, it's not easy to make a good movie about the trivialities of middle-class life. Because the government with too much power will censor the film before the filming, and the people responsible for censorship are often a bunch of conservative and cautious people, so they want to come up with a beautiful script under their restraint. , very easy. This is also one of the reasons why Chinese directors tend to blame their lack of imagination on the censors.
Censorship not only determines the general direction of the film, but also determines the fate of the director. For example, Jafar Panasi, who is also an Iranian director, was banned by the Iranian government from filming for 20 years because of the sensitivity of filming. Under such a background, it is even more rare that "A Parting" can have a superior performance.
Regarding the review, the director of "A Farewell" said: "The review process is very long, the script must be submitted first, and there will be repeated revisions in the middle. We have also learned how to avoid some themes and content traps, how to challenge When the official bottom line is used, they can be persuaded to pass the review; after the film is finished, it has to be approved by another department. This process is like a boxing match. The opponent moves a lot and the boxing is complicated. When you let down your guard, it will give you a hard blow." This process is roughly similar to China's.
The Iranian social life shown in "A Separation" unfolds through a middle-class family, and is entangled in religious beliefs, class antagonisms, the rule of law and religious rulings, children's education, gender differences, family conflicts, and whether or not to go abroad to escape from the country. The conflict between the two, various factors gather together, and there is a thick undercurrent lurking in the faint family life, which greatly improves the visibility of the film and does not appear dull.
The question of whether or not to go abroad triggered a separation of middle-class families. The male owner was unable to take care of his dementia father who stayed at home because of his work, so he hired an hourly worker to help. But servants from poor families go out to work behind their husbands to support the family. Demented elderly people are unable to move on their own, resulting in servants being hit by a car while caring for the elderly. Then the old man almost died because the servant went to the hospital. So the angry host pushed the servant, which resulted in the miscarriage of the pregnant servant. Although before she miscarried, the baby had already died from being hit. But the conflict in court still involved both families and put each of them to the test of morality and conscience.
In the Qur'an, theft is listed as the first felony, and all other crimes are explained as arising from theft. Lying is stealing someone else's right to the truth, and murder is stealing someone else's right to survive. The male host, the maid, the 11-year-old child of the host's family, and her governess are all faced with the situation of how to speak. Morality, reality, or belief, are all testing those in it.
The end result is developmental, and we have no way of knowing specifically whether those checks were sent or what choices the final child will make in court. But we know that life choices, once made, will have an impact on future events. The hostess decided to move, the man hired her even knowing that the other party was pregnant, and the servant was reluctant to take care of the old man when he knew that he was unable to take care of the old man, all of which created the seeds for future tragedies. As the story progresses, it brings people more and more thoughts. Because the movie has transcended Iran, and the story between the characters in the story, with a universal meaning. People's choices and the direction of life require people to think carefully, and any blindness may cause adverse consequences.
Therefore, I must recommend "Nader and Simin: A Parting".
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