Nobody Is In The Wrong

I was never a foreign-language movie fan because I believe that one would usually lose the authenticity and true emotions if one can't understand the language of the story being told. Reading English subtitles is never the same as hearing the actors in our own language. But, more recently, I've been changing my mind and I'm now increasingly convinced that I should give foreign movies a chance. This was particularly true when I saw this year's Best Foreign Language Film from the Academy Awards, A Separation, from Iran.

Foreign-language movies always demonstrate greater artistic subtleties and often reflect their countries' unique cultural nuances. But A Separation is brilliant because the plot and dilemmas faced by the characters in the movie could apply to any culture. This was the first time I saw an Iranian movie and I was struck by the simplicity and stark morality of the film. The plot is simple - a couple's family begins to disintegrate because the husband and wife cannot come to an agreement: the wife wants to move to America and the husband refuses becauses he wants to stay in Iran to take care of his elderly Alzheimer-stricken father. The 11-year-old daughter is caught in between the parents she loves and life is becoming increasingly difficult for her.

This had to be one of the lowest-budget movies I've ever seen - no big stars, no big productions and shots of very simple everyday life in a busy city. But things are never as they seem. As with every separation or divorce anywhere in the world, there were already underlying problems to the couple's relationship before the wife wanted to move to the U.S. And the husband's reluctance is not as simple as just taking care of the ailing father.

What I also like about the movie is that there's really nobody in the wrong here: the husband is trying to be a dutiful son, making an honest living at the bank and helping his teenaged daughter with her homework. When he apparently saw elderly abuse, he lost it. The wife, as a strong woman in the Iranian world, wants to build a better life for the family by emigrating to the U.S. and she only wants the best for her daughter. Feeling guilty about what she's about to do, she has arranged for alternative help at home so that her father-in-law can be looked after. The poor housekeeper risks dishonouring the family (by helping wash an old man suffering from Alzheimer's without getting her husband's prior consent) because she wants to help out her neurotic and debt-laden husband. The teenaged daughter is just a normal, bright student wanting to lead a happy life, but, instead, finds herself caught in the web of conflict, lies, hatred, guilt, deception and justice.

In the end, we understand that Iranian women are the most honest souls beneath their burka-clad attire. In spite of the conflict between the two families, the two children have become friends. And, very often, throughout the movie, we see the world through the eyes of the two kids. The movie, like all other forms of great art, leaves us with an open ending that invites the audience to figure out what could be the conclusion. I've spoken to four friends who have seen the movie and some of us may agree while others have totally different interpretations.

When Iran is in the middle of such controversial confrontation with Israel and the rest of the world, such a win at The Oscars was best summarized by Asghar Farhadi, the director of A Separation, at the awards ceremony, "..at the time when we talk of war, intimidation and aggression is exchanged between politicians, the name of their country, Iran, is spoken here through her glorious culture....I proudly offer this honour to the people of my country, a people who respect all cultures and civilizations and despise hostility and resentment."