The Iranian New Wave

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Criticizing the Iranian government through film is no easy task. Since the 1979 revolution (when Hollywood films were banned and several movie theaters burned), Iranian filmmakers have labored under a draconian censorship system that prohibits, among other things, unfavorable portraits of the army, police, or family; physical contact or tender words between men and women; and showing any part of a woman's body besides her hands and face (which must be shrouded in a scarf). Some filmmakers, like Kiarostami, choose to see the bright side of all this repression. In Jamsheed Akrami's documentary Friendly Persuasion: Iranian Cinema after the Revolution, Kiarostami compares himself to an architect who enjoys the challenge of building on a crooked lot and notes that the restrictions have led filmmakers to adopt a more allegorical, creative style of filmmaking in order to sneak by government censors. Other directors, like Bani-Etemad, are less charitable. 'In any country where women aren't free,' she tells The Village Voice (March 12, 2003), 'no one is free.'

Many Iranian artists are banking on President Mohammed Khatami to reform the system. He started relaxing some of the movie production codes almost 20 years ago when he was minister of culture, but he was eventually forced out by hard-liners. When Khatami was elected president in 1997, he immediately set about striking some of the more odious governmental restrictions, including script approval. But, given the larger struggle between reform-minded leaders like Khatami and the right-wing conservatives in the Iranian judiciary and military, the future is uncertain. As writer Mike Hertenstein has noted, 'Given the present complexities and tone of world affairs, one can more easily imagine events tending to strengthen the hand of repression, bringing about a cataclysmic change of circumstances in which a crackdown on the Iranian film renaissance is but the least of tragedies.'

Which is a shame, because a crackdown on Iranian film would mean not only fewer great movies to see but also one less window to the world. 'We have very few ways of learning about Iran as a country apart from cinema,' Rosenbaum has said. 'This alone makes Iranian film very important.'

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