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AP Photo/Mohsen Makhmalbaf
From the City of Lights, an Iranian cinematic luminary heralds an impassioned and compelling plea to the democracies of the European Union and the United States to not recognize the "democratic reelection" of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after the disputed June 12 Iranian presidential election. Mohsen Makhmalbaf, an internationally and critically acclaimed film director and a pioneer of the "new wave" movement of Iranian cinema now becomes a principal actor in the reform movement of Mir Hossein Mousavi as his appointed official spokesman for his campaign abroad. It is in Makhmalbaf that you witness both the political and socioeconomic principles and the contradictions embodied by the Iranian revolution and the subsequent creation of the Islamic Republic.
Makhmalbaf was born on May 28, 1957 in Tehran. His parents' marriage lasted a matter of days and he was raised by his maternal grandmother since his mother was working as the breadwinner for her mother and son. As a youth and young adult, he came of age during the politically charged atmosphere of the 1960s and 1970s and bristled at the overt corruption and cruelty of the shah's regime. Under the influence of his stepfather, he became an ardent supporter of the militant religious and political ideology of Ayatollah Khomeini. He took to the streets, agitating against the shah's autocracy. In 1974 he was jailed for attacking a policeman and remained in jail for four years. He was released from prison in 1978 and participated in the subsequent toppling of the shah's government. Upon his release from jail, he now focused his energies from armed action to cultural reform and activities that would buttress the new Islamic regime. He founded the Center for the Propagation of Islamic Thought, a semi-governmental center that promoted artistic projects, albeit ones with a propagandistic bent. It was during this time that he began his cinematic career.
Makhmalbaf's films and his career have been characterized by various phases. His "Islamic" period (1982-1985) and the trilogy period (1987-1989) promote and extol the virtues and perceived principles of the cultural revolution that clerics and secularists alike were promoting after Imam Khomeini's ascent to power. Two films of keen interest during these phases are "Baykot" ("Boycott", 1985) and "Bicycleran" ("The Cyclist", 1989).
"Boycott" is set in the years prior to the 1979 revolution and tells the story of Valeh, a young anti-shah activist who forsakes his family for the cause of leftist (Marxist/communist) politics. Valeh, like Makhmalbaf, is arrested and imprisoned for protesting against the shah's regime. Valeh's crime--the production and dissemination of Marxist literature. While in prison, he becomes well acquainted with his Marxist colleagues. These interactions force him to both reflect on and rethink his ideology. Ironically, Valeh renounces his Marxist ideals and its corresponding ideology before being taken away to be executed by the authorities. The moral of this narrative could not be more clear: an individual always had to guard against secularism and the "treachery" of Marxist thought, a corrupting influence, contagion on modern Iran. Historically, the Tudeh (the Iranian Communist Party) and Mojahedin had supported the new Islamic regime, a regime that promised a secular democracy. The irony then that ensues is not missed on either Iranian citizens, cinematic audiences, or Makhmalbaf himself: the theocratic state and the cultural revolution that the Islamic Republic implements replicates the repression engendered by the Pahlavi state. Eric Egan in his book, "The Films of Makhmalbaf: Cinema, Politics, & Culture in Iran" drives home this point, arguing that, "Makhmalbaf has himself stated that 'Boycott' represents a critique of fascism and that the film stands as a work of transition between his Islamic films and the more socially critical films that were to follow, exemplifying his loss of faith in the new regime."
His 1987 film, "The Cyclist" (released in 1989 after detailed scrutiny by cinematic censorship authorities in Iran) is a subverted critique of the socioeconomic failures of the new regime and its inability to address the economic and ethnic inequity and poverty that still prevailed throughout both urban and rural Iran. "The Cyclist" tells the story of Nasim, an Afghan well digger who is desperate to raise money for his ill wife's hospital treatments. Nasim, once a cycling champion in his native Afghanistan, accepts a proposition by a local businessman who wants to promote and market him as an Afghan ubermensch (superman) who will cycle nonstop for seven days. Cycling around in a circle in the town square, this spectacle attracts the interest and indirect participation from various groups of people hoping to benefit from Nasim's success. Even once he completes this improbable feat, he continues to cycle thus creating a spectacle of both resignation and hopelessness.
Two must-see films of his later phases of filmmaking, filmmaking that becomes more overt in its doubt about the direction and vision of the Islamic Republic are "Gabbeh" (1996) and "Kandahar" (2001). "Gabbeh" placed an international spotlight and accolades onto his filmmaking and "Kandahar" was selected by Time magazine as one of the top 100 films of all time. After the success of "Gabbeh", Makhmalbaf has devoted himself to mentoring and producing new filmmakers. In 1996 he established the Makhmalbaf Film House. His project received scrutiny by the Ministry of Culture yet he circumvented these objections by establishing the school in his home with his family and friends as his first students. Benefitting from this rigorous hands-on, collaborative cinematic collective, his daughter Samira is now one of Iran's most prominent and acclaimed young filmmakers. If you only have time for only one of her films, see "Sib" ("The Apple", 1998). The film won seven international awards and the eighteen-year old director was invited to show her film at Cannes Film Festival, making her the youngest director in cinematic history to show a film at Cannes.
What's the saying about the apple and the tree? The house of Makhmalbaf gives both truth and credence to this adage.
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