ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Iran

A Man of Integrity – Can ethics survive?

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“Life teaches everybody. Some learn quick, others slow. Some learn too much, others not enough.”

Iranian filmmaker Mohammed Rasoulof tells stories that deal with trying to live an ethical life in a less than conducive setting. A Man of Integrity shows the difficulty one man has in trying to live as he feels is right, when everything is built on corruption. Can he stay true to himself and still survive, or must he become the very thing he hates?

Reza (Reza Akhlaghirad) has abandoned the city for what should be a simpler life as a goldfish farmer in rural Iran. He is a man of principle. A man at the bank is willing to help him with his debt (which would require greasing the palm of various managers). Reza instead brings money to pay off the loan and penalties. He would rather pay more that pay a bribe. But such bribery is the way of life in his society.

The Corporation that controls everything in his area wants his land, and will interfere with water and will even get him jailed if he stands in their way. He could make some deals, and get powerful friends, but he doesn’t want to be part of that system. His wife Hadis (Soudebeh Beizaee) is more pragmatic. She views his stand as prideful. She begins working to save their life together. She is not afraid to use intimidation and power in the process. Little by little the corrupt system erodes Reza’s world and he eventually must act to set himself free—even if it means he must use the same methods that the Corporation has used against him.

This film premiered at Cannes in 2017. Rasoulof’s 2020 film There Is No Evil also has a theme of the corruption of the soul by an immoral system. The latter film, while still dark, has a much more hopeful view of whether people can bring change. In this film, although Rasoulof says in production notes that he wanted to write a hopeful story, the film has a very dark conclusion that shows that sometimes even when we win, the cost may be more than we can bear.

It is always tempting to see films such as this as a condemnation of a tyrannical regime. It is in part. Of the six films Rasoulof has made, none has been able to be seen in Iran. Rasoulof has also be sentenced to time in jail, although to date that hasn’t been enforced. The censorship in his homeland is a part of the corrupt system that he seeks to expose through his films.

The film should also be seen as a universal story of how difficult it can be to live out our ethics. We may wish the world were a moral place, but more often than not we will be disappointed. How will we respond when our own ethical stands go against the prevailing amorality of the culture around us? Politics, business, even (sadly) the church are all too often driven by ideas that we know are the way things work, but go against our core principles. Can we stand up to such a world? Or will we bend beneath the weight of its burdens?

A Man of Integrity is in select theaters.

Photos courtesy of Big World Pictures.

Slamdance 2022 – Let’s watch some docs

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Today’s report on the Slamdance Film Festival looks at some documentary features. These three films all have different vibes, from chaotic, to mellow, to socially engaged. A reminder, the festival this year is entirely online. You can get a festival pass for only $10 that lets you watch as many films as you like through February 6.

Forget Me Not, directed by Olivier Bernier, is the story of the Bernier family as they struggle to get the best possible education for their son Emilio, who has Down Syndrome. The New York City School System is said to be the most segregated school system in the country for children with disabilities. The Berniers want Emilio to be in inclusive settings, around children that are not disabled. There are good reasons for this. But will the bureaucracy agree? This is a well done exploration of the issue facing special needs children. Is it better to have them in smaller segregated schools, or will they learn better amidst a broader school population?

Ferroequinology, directed by Alex Nevill, shows us two photographers with a fascination with railroads. One creates a photo-journal of a passenger train voyage focusing of the community of people on the train. The other seeks rural settings to wait (sometimes in vain) for a freight train to come through. In a world where most people are in a hurry to get somewhere or do something, these two have opted to take a slower pace. While the film focuses on the photographers, we note that the filmmaker also has a good eye for the beauty of railroads.

Doggy Love, directed by Mahmoud Ghaffari, shows us Yanni and Aslan, two people who work together in a dog shelter in Iran. Aslan is in love with Yanni, but she doesn’t reciprocate. This is a country where dogs are not valued. They are considered dirty, diseased, and even viewed as against the Islamic faith. This is not the kind of humane animal shelter we imagine. It is chaotic. The two have few resources to feed or care for the dogs—and it leads to problems that might upset many viewers.

All of these films are currently airing at Slamdance ’22.

Slamdance 2022 – First roundup

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Welcome to Slamdance Film Festival.

Slamdance is a festival that bills itself as “by filmmakers, for filmmakers”. It focuses on emerging talent. The festival was started in 1995 by a group of filmmakers whose films weren’t accepted into the Sundance Film Festival. I usually think of Slamdance as Sundance’s pesky younger sibling—perhaps not as accomplished, but working hard to prove they’re worthy of attention. This year’s festival is all virtual running from January 27 to February 6. It is a true bargain at $10 for a festival pass that allows you to watch as many features, docs, and shorts as you can fit in. Here’s some that I’ve seen so far.

Hannah Ha Ha, from directors Jordan Tetewsky and Joshua Pikovsky, takes us into the life of a young woman who is coasting along in life. She lives in a small town with her aging father. She does a little dog walking, teaches guitar, volunteers at a community farm. When her older brother comes for a visit, he begins to push her to get a real job. Her brother’s perspective is “Most people your age are making strides in their careers”. But another friend asks, “What do you need a real job for?” Her brother thinks she is wasting time. But is getting a fast food job just a bigger waste of time? This is an examination of ennui. Hannah has no real impetus to change, or to find meaning in her life as it is. Hannah Ha Ha is playing in the Narrative Feature section.

Is there a way to prove the existence (or non-existence) of God? In Manuel Arija’s Untrainocencia, a bizarre pair are locked into an isolation capsule as part of an experiment by a strange religious organization to try to find the answer. Orión and Adán are not anything like we’d expect. One is described as “with faith, but without hope”; the other is “with hope, but without faith”. Day by day, they enact strange rituals seeking to reach the divine. There is a ridiculousness about their efforts that is entertaining—at least for a while. It may also lead us to question our own liturgical rituals and if they are in some way as outlandish as what we are watching. When Orión discovers Adán’s secret, things begin to fall apart. Or maybe they were doomed from the start. The concept of the film appealed to me, but it never quite got beyond the visual humor to tap into more interesting aspects of the question. Ultrainocencia is also part of the Narrative Feature section.

In Goodafternoon Sweetdream, directed by Bang Seung Hyeon, we see a series of  “dreams” that are made up of conversations between Ye Won, whose father has recently died, and her friends. We aren’t sure if they are actual dreams or if they just represent an aspect of her grief. Each section is a single static camera shot. It is very talky and low key. There is no real through narrative. As such, the film really doesn’t seem to go much of anywhere. Goodafternoon Sweetdream is part of the Narrative Feature section.

A film from the Breakout section, Killing the Eunuch Khan, directed by Abed Abest, was described as “A serial killer uses his victims to kill more victims.” I wouldn’t describe it that way. But it is the most visually interesting film from my Slamdance sampling so far. There are deaths, to be sure, but it is not so much about plot as it is about the interesting shots that have been designed for the film, including a trickle of blood that eventually becomes a torrential river. There is very little dialogue throughout the film. We just watch it play out, fascinated by what we see.

Justin Zuckerman’s Yelling Fire in an Empty Theater follows a young woman who has just moved from Florida to New York City. In the opening scene, set in an airport, she’s told, “I don’t know what you think New York is going to be like, but I have to tell you, it won’t be.” Moving to New York is often an exciting time for young people, but as we meet her roommate in her toxic relationship, and as Lisa really doesn’t seem to be growing, we see that such a move may not be for everyone. Perhaps the theme is best expressed as “New York may be strange, but it is not boring—maybe.” Yelling Fire in an Empty Theater is part of the Narrative Feature section.

Saturday at AFI Fest 2021

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If you’re in the mood for a time-bending coming-of-age story, Petite Maman will do the trick. From director Céline Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady On Fire, Tomboy) this is the story of eight year old Nelly, who after her grandmother’s death goes to the grandmother’s house with her parents. This is her mother’s childhood home. Nelly remembers her mother telling her about building a hut in the woods. One day her mother suddenly leaves without telling Nelly. When Nelly plays in the woods, she meets Monica, a girl her age who is building hut just as her mother described. When she goes to Monica’s house, we see it is the same house she is staying in, only many years earlier.  We (and Nelly) understand pretty quickly that she’s encountered her mother as a girl. Nelly moves back and forth between present and past houses and people. As she does so, she learns about her mother, her mother’s fears, and her own insecurities.

As in Sciamma’s previous films, Petite Maman has wonderful cinematography and brilliant character studies. It’s not so much a story of time travel per se as it is a mystical connection that will forever bond Nelly with her mother. Has it always been a bond that her mother has known?

Hit the Road is the premiere film from Iranian director Panah Panahi. This is a bizarre road trip with a loving (although it’s hard to tell sometimes) family driving across the country for some unknown reason. (It’s somewhat revealed later in the film.) The father is in the backseat with his leg in a cast. (Is it really broken?) The eldest son is driving with the mother beside him in front. The very energetic younger son seems to bounce around the car. And there’s a sick dog in the back. The chaos becomes a bit claustrophobic as we travel with them in the car.

The difficulty with the film is being not quite sure what it is about what is happening in Iran that has triggered this emergency road trip. I can conject various possibilities, but I expect the film’s Iranian audience would have a much better grasp of the situation.

And, of course, I have some shorts to share.

In Are You Still There? from directors Rayka Zehtabchi and Sam Davis, we spend a hot day with Safa when her car battery dies and she must wait in a strip mall parking lot until her mother can get off work to come jump the car. It is a long day (condensed to 15 minutes) that ends in triumph.

The documentary short Video Visit by Malika Zouhali-Worrall shows us the program at the Brooklyn Public Library that allows families of those held in New York City jails to have video call with their incarcerated families. It lets us discover the difficulties families have visiting in person, and the bureaucratic hurdles the library staff faces to try to keep this important program in place.  Libraries rule! (23 minutes)

Yoruga, directed by Federico Torrado Tobón, is a brief story of a lonely man in the not to distant future who goes to “Noah’s Ark”, a facility where some animals still survive. He can afford a one minute visit with one of these animals, and he shares a bit of his life in that short time. (7 minutes.)

Sun Children: Shining a Light on 152 Million in Child Labour

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Set in Iran, Sun Children tells the story of Ali, a 12-year-old boy and his friends who are unfortunately the sole providers for their struggling families. As one of the 152 million children forced into child labor, Ali must perform excruciating manual labor instead of getting an education, destroying their bodies and sacrificing their futures just so to survive. However, one day, he and his friends are presented with an opportunity that could change their lives for the better. Recruited to pull off a heist, they must enroll into Sun School, a charitable institution that gives children an education and a future. Once enrolled, they must dig underground of the school to reach a buried treasure that should change their lives.

Directed by Majid Majidi, Sun Children really explores the exploitative nature of Third World countries and the hopeless situations that these children are forced into. The main focus of the story is Ali who, as the only one in his family capable of earning an income, must work as a tire maker to keep up with his mother’s medical bills. Due to non-existent social nets, such as universal health care, child benefits, or welfare, Ali is taken advantage of and works his youth away for a measly amount of money. Like many kids in these situations, Ali is trading time that could have been used for school and thus, sacrificing his future as well. 

Ali remains trapped within a system that exploits and the film highlights the class differences that are in place. (In fact, the film even starts off with a luxury car scene showing the benefits that the rich have received from employing child labor.) Here, the wealth difference and divide is absurd, especially within the same city. As a result of a life that forces them to “paycheque to paycheque” or struggling to find work at all, many youth often result to crimes to better their lives, making criminals out of them. In the end, Sun Children shows that this is a corrupt system that has abandoned the needs of millions of youth for financial gain. What’s more, there’s no incentive for the government to make any changes to the system as they are being lobbied by the rich in order to perpetuate this social divide.

Ali and his friends mission subjects them to constant work and sacrifice for no reward. For example, Ali is working to provide for his mother but, due to sacrificing his education, will most likely be in poverty his entire life. His only hope is that his mother gets better miraculously but, with the little funds that he can provide, that most likely isn’t going to happen. At Sun School the boys are, for the first time, given an opportunity to learn, expand their knowledge and gain the possibility to get actual careers and a future for themselves. On Ali’s first day in class, the first question they ask him is what is the greatest source of light, and the answer being the sun. In this way, Sun School refers to these children as the brightest things in our world because the children light up with happiness when they’re in class.

Ali, however, is the only child that is determined to get the treasure and forgoes his opportunity at the school in order to do so. Digging constantly throughout each school day, Ali put everything into trying to obtain the treasure that he believes will change their lives. To him, the treasure means freedom. It’s a fresh start. However, within this culture, these sorts of dreams can be difficult to find (and even more difficult to obtain). As the film concludes, while it highlights the hope that these children carry about their future, Sun School also leans into the painful realities that these Iranian children experience on a daily basis.

What I really liked about this film was that it was not afraid to show the harsh reality of the world that many children around the world live in. For millions of youth, the system in place makes it nearly impossible for them to move up from the depths of poverty, while the rich and politicians keep their wealth and power. While Sun Children may be hard to watch sometimes, it’s a film that is needed to be viewed in order to understand the situation. You really see just how much work and suffering these children go through for almost nothing in return. That being said, the film isn’t in total despair. The moments where the kids are playing or actively participating in school and extra circulars really showcase their innocence and how bright these kids are. In doing so, it also emphasizes how sad it is that they just weren’t given a fair opportunity in life. 

Overall, Sun Children is a great film that highlights a major global issue that is invisible to the eyes of people living in First World countries. The exploitation, the corruption, and the endless cycle of poverty in Children is a must watch for those unaware of the current situation and I highly recommend it.

Sun Children is available on VOD on Friday, June 25, 2021

There Is No Evil – Are We Monsters?

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“What kind of animal could execute someone?”

What kind of person could kill someone? Could you? What if the reason is that it is your job? Could you be the executioner of someone given the death penalty? There Is No Evil from dissident Iranian director Mohammed Rasoulof won both the Golden Bear (best film) and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Berlin Film Festival. This is a film that doesn’t ask if capital punishment is just or moral. (I think the film assumes it is not.) Rather it looks at the people who must carry out the executions and what the cost is for them.

The film is made up of four vignettes. Each story evolves until it comes to a twist we may not have expected.

We watch a middle-class man as he goes through his day running errands before going to work in the evening. It all seems so very normal, until we see his matter-of-fact approach to his work. We see a conscripted soldier in the barracks struggle with being picked to hang a criminal. He looks for a way out, but he seems to be trapped. Or is he?

Another soldier is traveling to his fiancée’s birthday because he’s earned a pass. When he arrives, he discovers the family is in deep grief because a resistance leader friend has just been executed. Can this become a wedge in his relationship with his fiancée? Finally, we meet a doctor who has retired to beekeeping off the grid. When his niece comes for a visit the secret of his past comes out.

We come away from the film with a vision of the way taking part in such a practice corrodes the spirit. The film also serves as a statement about life under a repressive government such as Iran. (It should be noted that Rasoulof has been sentenced to jail for his films which were deemed to be “propaganda against the system”.) It is not just the participation in an execution that Rasoulof sees as harmful, it is the system that puts people in such a situation. As Rasoulof puts it, “Autocratic rulers metamorphose people into becoming mere components of their autocratic machines”.

Going back to the questions at the start of this review: What kind of person could kill someone? Could you? I expect most people would want to answer that they would not. Does the fact we live is a democracy protect us from such a “Metamorphosis”? Or are we just as susceptible to being changed by the systems around us? What about our participation through our citizenship? Is our silent acceptance of capital punishment a form of participation in the execution done in our name? Even if we are not the active executioners, we are the system that creates the evil.

There Is No Evil opens May 14 in theaters and on virtual cinema.

Photos courtesy of Kino Lorber.

Yalda, A Night of Forgiveness

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“An eye for an eye is very costly. It’s not easy at all.”

Many religions speak about forgiveness. It may be about the way we have been forgiven, or it may focus on our need to forgive others. In Yalda, A Night of Forgiveness from Iranian director Massoud Bakhshi, the process of forgiveness is the engine that drives the story.

Maryam (Sadaf Asgari) has been convicted of murdering her temporary husband Nassar Zia and sentenced to death. But in Iran, the death sentence can be avoided if the family of the victim forgives. Maryam is scheduled to appear on a television show, “Joy of Forgiveness”, which brings together killer and family to try to negotiate forgiveness on live TV. She must persuade her husband’s daughter Mona (Behnaz Jafari) to spare her from hanging.

Nearly the whole film takes place within the TV station. Since it is a live show, there are issues that come up that create a certain amount of chaos. This is not staged with an assumed outcome, although the producers of the show certainly would prefer a happy ending.

There is a bit of surreality to this show, because along with being reality show, it is also a variety entertainment, with songs and other guests. And there is a viewers’ poll about whether Maryam should be forgiven, the numbers determining if the sponsors will pay the blood money involved. Part of the strangeness of the show is that this episode takes place on Yalda, the Zoroastrian celebration of the winter solstice. This longest night of the year is a time of family celebrations. To have such a downer subject on TV is bothersome to one of the producers of the show who keeps wanting to lighten things up.

Much of the film is spent with the moderated dialogue between Maryam and Mona. Maryam views Mona as a big sister and mentor. But now Mona is cold and hardened.  Maryam is encouraged to beg for mercy, but instead she maintains her innocence, claiming the death was an accident. There are other issues involved in this conversation, some of which only play out in the background. Then a surprise revelation to everyone concerned brings many more issues into play.

Through it all we are left to consider whether Mona should or will forgive Maryam and save her life. We may also want to consider what reasons there should be for Mona’s decision. The nature of forgiveness itself is never expressly stated. Instead we are focused more on the pragmatic, cultural, and economic issues at play. But in one of the entertainment interruptions to the show, a famous movie star comes on to read a poem in celebration of Yalda. Before reading the poem she tells the viewers, “Yalda means that life is short, that the extra minutes we share together are cause for celebration.” While that may seem extraneous to the negotiations taking place over Maryam’s life, it serves to speak to the value of life—each moment of life. That in itself may be a reason for any of us to consider the value of forgiveness in our lives.

Yalda, A Night of Forgiveness is available on virtual cinema through local arthouses.

Photos courtesy of Film Movement.

Saturday at AFIFest 2020

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Going to festivals often results in a bit of emotional whiplash. My Saturday viewing at AFIFest 2020 Presented by Audi is an example of that. From stories about executions to animated folklore to the angst of a recovering addict heavy metal drummer who suddenly loses his hearing. It is a day of very strong reactions.

The Iranian film There Is No Evil won the Golden Bear for Best Film and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Berlin Film Festival. Director Mohammed Rasoulof has recently been sentenced to prison and banned from making films in Iran. This is a series of vignettes that eventually ask the question “What kind of animal could execute someone?” We meet a family man doing his daily routines. We see a soldier who struggles with having the job of executing a criminal. We meet another soldier on his way to celebrate his girlfriend’s birthday who finds the house in mourning. We see a young woman who has come back to Iran to visit her uncle and aunt, only to discover an amazing secret.

The beautiful cinematography and the excellent stories show us a very human view of these people who all in some way are touched by capital punishment. The stories evolve to our discovery of a twist we probably didn’t expect. At the heart of the film is the question of what kind of effect capital punishment has on those who must carry it out. A powerful film that is very deserving of the accolades it has garnered.

The film I most anticipated coming into the festival was Wolfwalkers, directed by Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart. This is the third animated film based in Irish folklore from Cartoon Saloon. Like the previous films, Secret of the Kells and Song of the Sea, the hand animation is beautiful, drawing on the art history of the time period being portrayed. The story involves a young girl, Robyn Goodfellow, sent to Ireland with her hunter father. Her father is tasked with ridding the woods of wolves. Robyn wants to hunt with him, but her father forbids it. She doesn’t mind. In the woods, she comes across another young girl, Mebh, who has more lupine than human behavior. Mebh is a wolfwalker, she is a human when awake, but when asleep, her spirit takes the body of a wolf. She also has magical healing powers. Her mother, the head wolfwalker, has been asleep for a long time.

As Robyn tries to help Mebh, she discovers that because of a bite from Mebh, Robin is now a wolfwalker as well. Meanwhile Robin’s father and the Lord Protector are trying to wipe out the wolf pack. The folkloric stories that Cartoon Saloon has brought us all have an environmental message in that our efforts to conquer the natural world has had a terrible price. Like those who created such tales, we need to live more in harmony with the world around us.

Riz Ahmed as Ruben in SOUND OF METAL Courtesy of Amazon Studios

In Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal, we encounter a man who seems to lose everything in his life, but may indeed find true peace. Ruben (Riz Ahmed) is a heavy metal drummer who plays with his girlfriend Lou (Olivia Cooke). When he suddenly loses most of his hearing, he wants to push forward with cochlear implants, but the cost is prohibitive, and as a recovering addict, he is struggling. He reluctantly joins a community of deaf recovering addicts. He rebels against his deafness, but slowly begins to fit in with others with hearing impairments. When he sells all he has for his surgery, he may be back into addiction behavior (addiction to hearing or past life?).

Through it all the leader of the deaf community tries to get him to stop trying to fix things (mostly his deafness). He urges him to try to just sit—to find stillness. He tells Ruben that moments of stillness are the “place of the Kingdom of God.” I should point out that this is an emotionally exhausting story. I don’t mean that to discourage anyone from seeing it. That emotional involvement in the story should be a key goal of all filmmakers. Darius Marder, in his first feature narrative film manages to summon our emotions for Ruben’s search for happiness and life.

I should also comment on a short that I’ve seen. Shorts are always an important part of AFIFest. In A 1984 Period Piece in Present Day from Sean Glass, we meet a couple who check into a somewhat spooky motel for the night. There they watch an old episode of “Creepshow”. It is one that the man remembers fondly, but when looked at from the present day, there are serious issues with it. Has the show become outdated, have we grown as a culture, or is it just as spooky to consider as it was then?

2020 So Far: Iran, Church Shooting, Star Wars, Golden Globes

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your sunday drive

Your Sunday Drive Podcast Season 2, Episode 1.

In our first episode of 2020, we briefly refocus the goal of this podcast: seeking ways to approach current culture in a Christian/biblical way. We then ask “what’s happening so far in 2020?,” covering topics from the conflict with Iran and another recent church shooting, to some reflections on Star Wars and the Golden Globes fallout.

Come along for Your Sunday Drive – quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.

Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive

Saturday at AFIFest 2018

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For me, Saturday at AFIFest Presented by Audi was a day of globetrotting. Films often bring the world to us in many different ways. We see other countries through the eyes of filmmakers who wish to share their cultures—both with love and with a critical eye. They introduce us to people we might never meet, but we get a chance to know and appreciate.

Iran is a country much in our national news with talks of nuclear programs and sanctions. But that is not what filmmaker Jafar Panahi is interested in. In 3 Faces, well-known actress Behnaz Jafari (herself) gets a phone-made video from a young woman who may or may not have committed suicide because her family won’t let her study acting. Jafari sets off with a director friend (Panahi) to go to the remote mountain village to discover the truth. The trip brings us in contact with many people who have nothing to do with the issues that fill the news. The film focuses on the customs of the people and especially on how that affects women in that society. It is of note that Panahi has been arrested, sentenced to jail (now a loose house arrest), forbidden to leave the country, and banned from making films for 20 years. Obviously, he is still doing so. 3 Faces is scheduled to be released here in the spring.

For a lighter story, Sweden provides Amatuers. When a German low-price superstore considers placing a store in the small town of Lafors, the cash-strapped city council ask students to make a promotional film about the town. On seeing the results, they find a real filmmaker to come and take over. But two of the students keep at it to create something that shows the true character of the town. This is a story about allowing those who are overlooked to be seen and heard. The film shows the broad range of diversity that makes up the society. It also shows the personal level of what it is like to be part of a society, but not quite really be a part.

Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón has made a very personal film in Roma. In a taped message before the screening, Cuarón noted that it was based on memories from his childhood in Mexico City in 1971, and called it “a love letter to the woman who raised me.” The film is not so much about plot as it is a character study of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) a maid in the home of a doctor’s family. She is both part of the family, but also her place is nearly always that of a servant. The film is vignettes of her life with the family—the tragedies, and the joys. The film is a visual treat with astounding black and white cinematography. But its real power is the emotional strength of some of the scenes. Roma is Mexico’s official entry for Oscar consideration. It opens in select theaters on November 21, and will be available on Netflix in mid-December.