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Dangers of Watching Movies - Abu Ibraheem Husnayn

ZaMiN RaZa

ZaMiN RaZa

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IGCSE O/L student said:
Dear brothers and sisters, I'm sure we all take movies for granted, and do not consider the bad side of them as long as we watch so-called 'good movies'. But here's what movies really are, and I hope this will be an awakening to all of us:
Click to expand...
AoA
I first want to say i do not want to offend you or anyone here on this thread and respect your dedication of bringing people to the straight path here on xtremepapers. I seriously love your work but movies are not necessarily an evil thing on this earth. Putting Hollywood movies aside, look for movies produced by foreign countries. Like for example, we shall use the Oscar-Winner for Best Foreign Language Film , A Separation directed by Iranian Director Asghar Farhadi.
 
ZaMiN RaZa

ZaMiN RaZa

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IGCSE O/L student said:
Dear brothers and sisters, I'm sure we all take movies for granted, and do not consider the bad side of them as long as we watch so-called 'good movies'. But here's what movies really are, and I hope this will be an awakening to all of us:
Click to expand...
Sorry, accidentally posted without completing message :D. Anyway this is a review i find perfectly does this film justice.

Asghar Farhadi's new film after the ingenious 'About Elly' is running for the Golden Bear at this year's Berlin Film Festival and, with half of the competition done and the rest of the program not looking too promising, appears to be an almost inevitable winner. Although maybe it won't for that very reason: Jahar Panahi's repeat inability to attend his jury duties because of Iran's government refusal to issue him a travel permit, a retrospective of his works including the 2006 Silver Bear-winning 'Offside', a variety of other Iranian productions and renewed demonstrations in Iran proper put the spotlight firmly on that country's elaborate, yet constrained film industry. All that buzz may outshine the film's artistic value, and prompt the jury to go for a less favored competitor. I should hope not, for Farhadi manages once again to embed lots of social criticism into a straight-laced, realistic narrative.

As in 'About Elly', the story begins rather unassumingly and takes an abrupt turn into a spiral of increasingly dramatic events: Nader and Simin are a couple about to break up over the question of moving abroad, for which they have obtained a permit after waiting for 18 months. Nader, however, has his father to take care of, who is suffering from Alzheimer's. Sirin still wants to leave, but not without her daughter (yes, pun intended) Termeh, a somewhat shy, bespectacled 11-year-old who cannot accept her parents' break-up. She therefore decides to stay with her father, which prompts Simin not to leave the country, but move to her mother. Nader is thereby forced to hire someone to take care of his dad, and a colleague of Sirin recommends the pregnant Razieh. Being deeply religious, she should not work in a single man's household, but her husband has been out of a job for a long time and is threatened with jail by his creditors. Her pregnancy and the necessity to attend to her daughter additionally stress her out. When Nader comes home one day to find his father left alone and tied to his bed, a struggle with the returning Razieh ensues, with catastrophic consequences for everyone around...

This is a much more complicated set-up than in 'About Elly', but it allows Farhadi to put a lot of additional information into his film as may be obvious to those who are just trying to follow the story (I hesitate to give examples because the film is as of yet to be released in Iran, which means an open-source comment such as this one needs to be carefully phrased). Much of the action takes place in courtrooms, where judges try to negotiate between the parties without any lawyers present. There's a lot of familiarity, and also a lot of menace, which succeeds to create the same climate of anxiety, accusation and deceit as in 'About Elly'. The realism of the narrative is embedded into a carefully planned scenography which makes almost every shot linger in the memory. And as in 'About Elly' the decisive moment, the one that solves the mystery is omitted in the picture, only to be explained verbally at the very end.

What makes me feel even more for this film is the fact that it might be the last film of its kind from Iran for some time. Ali Samadi Ahadi, the German-Iranian director of the comedy 'Salami Aleikum' and the upcoming documentary on the July 2009 protests 'The Green Wave', wrote that the film industry has come to a virtual standstill. 'Nader and Simin' was in development at the time of the protests; since then, regulations have become far more repressive, with even established masters like Kiarostami or Makhmalbaf forced to work abroad, and others threatened with jail and work prohibitions, of whom Panahi is only the most famous example. All the more reason to give this film the credit it deserves - winning Berlin may cause Iran's bureaucrats to reconsider, for cinema is almost the last link remaining to our world. Without film, how could we understand that Iranians are a modern people with issues like our own, and not dangerous fanatics as some media and politicians would have us believe?
 
ZaMiN RaZa

ZaMiN RaZa

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IGCSE O/L student said:
Dear brothers and sisters, I'm sure we all take movies for granted, and do not consider the bad side of them as long as we watch so-called 'good movies'. But here's what movies really are, and I hope this will be an awakening to all of us:
Click to expand...
Another review as well

I've never seen an Iranian move but the country has a rich movie culture that has broken through with A Separation which won the Golden Bear, best actor and best actress awards at Berlin earlier this year. And I can understand why.

Don't go expecting lavish cinematography, this is shot on hand held cameras, or certainly on fairly shaky tripods throughout, often under the harsh glare of fluorescent lighting that throws a watery blue cast over the action at times. But that is highly appropriate because this movie has a creeping sense of voyeurism throughout as the intensely private happenings of a family, and perhaps country, in turmoil steadily build up into a furious climax.

The plot is complex to say the least, but one can keep up by fully concentrating on each twist and turn of this micro-thriller.

The oppression of the Koran in this staunchly Muslim country carries a heavy burden throughout the film and it's the most frequently used prop as one of the characters in particular, the victim of a central crime, seeks spiritual guidance throughout. It's importance and oppression is palpable.

The story concerns the vain attempts of a wife (superbly acted by Leila Hatami) to leave Tehran with her husband to improve the life of their 12 year old daughter. But the husband cannot force himself to leave his Alzheimer's afflicted father behind and so stalemate ensues and divorce becomes the only alternative, this results in a separation and so the father (played to perfection by Peyman Moaadi) is forced to hire a nurse to look after his desperately sad father during the day.

One thing leads to another and inadvertently the husband pushes the nurse so that she ends up aborting her child.

This sets off a horrendous chain of events that I will not reveal here for fear of spoiling it for you.

Suffice to say the tension mounts throughout the movie and culminates in a heartbreaking decision for the couple's 12 year old daughter that is resolved in a way that Michael Hanneke would applaud vigorously.

This movie deals with important themes of family loyalty (more than love), duty, the oppression and folly of religion and pride.

Without overbearing pride much of the consequences of this film would not happen. Time and again you silently shout at the screen "just do the right thing and this mess will be resolved." They never do.

It could almost be played for laughs so farcical are the the situations the main protagonists find themselves in. But this is no comedy, far from it. It's a tearjerker and feels bitterly real, believable and often futile.
 
ZaMiN RaZa

ZaMiN RaZa

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IGCSE O/L student said:
Dear brothers and sisters, I'm sure we all take movies for granted, and do not consider the bad side of them as long as we watch so-called 'good movies'. But here's what movies really are, and I hope this will be an awakening to all of us:
Click to expand...
Last one:

The new movie of Asghar Farhadi is a melodrama that captures the theme of responsibility and honesty as well as love, religiosity, and sacrifice. The movie starts with an argument for divorce between Simin (Leila Hatami) and Nader (Peyman Moaadi) before a judge in an Iranian court. Through their argument, the main storyline of the movie becomes clear for us so that we become aware that Nader and Simin have been planning to move to a European country to provide better opportunities, as Simin claims in the court, for their only daughter, Termeh (Sarina Farhadi).

Although Nader was interested in the idea of living abroad a few months earlier, he refuses then because of his father (Ali-Asghar Shahbazi) who suffers from Alzheimer. When, in the court, Simin says to Nader "your father does not even know you" Nader answers "…but I know him." Here, the responsibility of a child toward his father is very tangible. During the movie, Simin insists on the idea of going abroad; when Nader refuses, she believes there is no other way for them except to divorce. Because Simin does not live with her husband and her daughter anymore, Nader decides to hire a reliable and responsible nurse for his father. Therefore, Razieh (Sareh Bayat) enters their house as the nurse.

On the first day of her arrival, Nader's father forgot to say that he needed to go to rest room. Therefore, Razieh, as a woman who really believes in strict rules of religion, does not like to come again to take care of Nader's father. Actually, she does not want to help an old man to go to rest room and even wash him. On a second thought, Razieh agrees to become his nurse again just because she needs the money. One day Nader comes and sees that his father has fallen from his bed and does not move. He thinks his father just passed away. However, he is still alive and becomes OK after a few minutes. Nader becomes very angry of what he calls " Razieh's irresponsibility" because she left the house and there is no sign of her. When she comes back, Nader brawls with her and pushes her out of the house and Razieh falls on the stairs that causes the abortion of her baby and a new challenge for Nader and Simin appears.

Nader is accused of killing Razieh's baby intentionally. Razieh claims that Nader pushed her though he knew she was pregnant; Nader denies it. In the court, Razieh's husband, Hodjat (Shahab Hosseini), who is a nervous man and does not have any job and has many debts, fights several times with Nader and insults him harshly. Termeh knows that his father is lying because she is sure that Nader heard the story of Razieh's pregnancy when she was talking about it with Termeh's tutor, Miss Ghahraii (Merila Zare'i). She is right! Nader and Simin agree to give some money to them to finish the story democratically. However, Nader insists on the idea of being sure whether he was guilty or not. That is why Nader asks Razieh to swear if he is guilty of the abortion of her baby. Although Hodjat really wants to get the money, Razieh refuses to swear because she thinks she is not sure whether the abortion of her baby was because of Nader or the accident that she had on the same day. Due to her religious beliefs, she does not want to get blood money From Nader when she is not sure whether he is guilty or not.

Finally, Nader and Simin agree to let Termeh choose her destiny by saying whether she prefers to live with her father or her mother. Like "about Eli", the previous film of Farhadi, the ending of the story is not clear and it is up to the audience to guess whether Termeh wants to live with her father or her mother.

There are scenes in the movie that are very impressive: When Nader is washing his father's body, while crying deeply, it shows us how a child loves his father no matter he is too old or sick. In addition, when Termeh asks his father about the reason that he told a big lie to the court, we can understand once more how children monitor their parents' behavior as their reliable role models. In addition, when Nader's father holds Simin's hand strongly which shows that he knows her well and no one, even Razieh, can look after him like the way that his daughter-in-law did in the past.

"Nader and Simin, a Separation" really deserves to be considered as one of the top 250 movies ever made. In the 21st century, when we are surrounded by thousands of science fiction movies, "Nader and Simin, a Separation" is a good example of a real-life movie which can help people to revise their ideas about important concepts like responsibility, love and sacrifice
 
ZaMiN RaZa

ZaMiN RaZa

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IGCSE O/L student said:
Dear brothers and sisters, I'm sure we all take movies for granted, and do not consider the bad side of them as long as we watch so-called 'good movies'. But here's what movies really are, and I hope this will be an awakening to all of us:
Click to expand...
Hope for a thoughtful reply from a fellow Muslim sister.
 
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ZaMiN RaZa said:
Hope for a thoughtful reply from a fellow Muslim sister.
Click to expand...

Walaikum salam warahmathullah
Thank you for giving your opinion on this aspect of Islam. Coming to whether movies is evil or not, well... some movies may not be evil, for example: Akeelah and the Bee. The plot of this movie may not necessarily be evil, but the way the actors and actresses portray themselves may not be Islamic. Other movies may not seem to be evil, but when closely examined, it may be horrible than thought to be. And first of all, it's completely prohibited for men to look at women, whether their intention is good or bad, but in the case of women, this is an issue of dispute, but women can avoid watching movies, and this is better for them. The scenes that you mentioned above can not only be obtained from the life of the Prophet, but even better teachings can be taken from it. Reading the books on the lives of the various companions are beneficial for us in this world, and is also an act that will help us attain reward in the Hereafter. Just because a movie may have inspirational scenes for the youth doesn't mean it's a good movie. There are other aspects which will have to be taken into consideration. Music is another issue. Every scene in every movie has a music track played along with it, and tell me, can a movie be watched while muting the parts that have music? No. It's better off not watching it. I know it may be hard to watch movies. I personally, used to watch movies, ie; just the kids' ones, like home alone. But after getting to know the amount of sins we attain by watching movies, I feel it's better not to watch any movie. It was a little hard at first, but InshaAllah, Allah will help us. And who'd like to enjoy some of the temporary pleasures of this world and suffer eternally? This world is a test for all of us. And as the beloved Prophet said, this world is a prison for the true believer, and is paradise for the disbelievers.
I hope you've been benefited by what I said.
May Allah Guide us all, and may he save us from the punishments of the Hereafter. Ameen...
 
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