Iran: Veiled Appearances
directed by Thierry Michel, Belgium/ France/ Italy 2002, 94'
Thierry Michel visited Iran in 1998 to see the cradle of Islamic fundamentalism. In Tehran, people could still remember the revolution and the bloody war with Iraq that had ended 10 years earlier. One of the keys to understanding Iran is religion, and the director pays particular attention to various manifestations of religiosity. We see in the film, among other things, ecstatic dervishes, a concert of religious songs and Khomeini's tomb, to which the faithful continue to make pilgrimages from all over the country up to this very day. As the title suggests, however, Michel does not limit himself to showing only one face of Iran. We also see in the film young people who have had enough of the dictatorship of the ayatollahs and who are not afraid to speak openly about this; we meet Iranian dissidents and their fearless families; we find out how brutally the regime deals with its opponents. Interviews often conducted on the street are combined with well-selected archival footage and scenes from films, which makes the Belgian director’s picture more complete and more nuanced.
- 2003 Sundance FF
