Page 18 - the NOISE April 2015

“THIS IS NOT A FILM”
The ‘film’ This is Not a Film played March 25th to a nice crowd as a part of the NAU International Film Series in the Lib- eral Arts Building room 120. The documentary by Jafar Pa-
nahi ‘documents’ his house arrest in Tehran as he awaits a six year sentence and a 20 year ban from filmmaking. His crime? Making a ‘risqué’ film and doing his art. To combat this Iranian injustice Jafar decides to use the materials at his disposal to give artists a sense of what it is like to live in a country that has no freedom of speech, especially for artists. Jafar wants to be clear early on and the title reflects his subversive satire: ‘this is not a film.’ He’s merely an actor reading his recently banned script. He’s not a director directing his life under house arrest, but allowing the ‘camera’ to follow him as he reads the story of his banned script. But ‘this is not a film,’ Iranian official’s have no need to fear. And so we follow the satire, Jafar’s day.
Intentionally this film is a mixed bag, but underneath its seemingly boring presentation lies several parallel con- structs designed to subversively infiltrate the viewers imagi- nation and get a true feel for the claustrophobic world of Jafar Panahi. Smuggled out of Iran in a cake This is not a Film played in 2012 at Cannes Film festival to a standing ovation; a blessing and a curse and it seems to be intentional. The blessing underlying the personal tragedy is the cathartic way it demonstrates the lengths an artist will go to in order to express their creative side, through whatever medium happens to be their forte.
This document has a beginning, middle and end in this typi- cal ‘day in the life’ story of an artist on house arrest in Iran. We follow one day . . . It has a tinge of ‘normalcy’ to it that sucks us into the boredom of all the days (a potential 20 years of imprisonment in his apartment). The conversation with Jafar’s lawyer in scene four shows the typical nature of a crime like this in Iran. The curse of this film is that it must show some of the down moments, the slower parts of the day that one must endure on house arrest, in order to participate in the mini- triumphs too. At 75 minutes, the film is the perfect length to give us the feel of Jafar’s boredom without alienating us.
The most interesting section of the film comes when Jafar ‘sets the scene’ in his big living room, of the poor girl’s room from his screenplay. Jafar uses a yellow tape to enclose his character’s tiny bedroom within his living room. And he later uses his big screen TV to show us some cuts from a previous
movie, when his young actress walked off the set due to Ja-
far’s imperial lockdown on the set. His actor feels the same way Jafar does, trying to rebel against his authority. So, life imitates art again. And the theme of much of Panahi’s work is a prophetic re-telling of the relationship of the artist to power. There’s a timeless theme beneath it all, going back to Boethese’s “Philosophy of Consolation” in 100 b.c.e. to Alexan- der Solzhenitsyn’s “The Gulag Archipelago” to MLK’s “Letters from a Birmingham Jail.”
The tradition of locking up the body but not being able to lock up the mind has deep roots. At the heart of this story is a filmmaker doing what he does best to document the world around him. He shows the streets as they implode literally and metaphorically. Gunfire breaks out and fires light up the streets of Tehran, and it seems almost ‘safer’ inside Jafar’s little world. Fireworks are outlawed and so the public takes to the street to light fires and fireworks! You see the ‘protest’ all over the city. And this inspires Jafar to use what’s at his disposal to make his statement. This documentary film becomes a document of protest that represents what Jafar sees with the people on the streets. It documents all the people, artists included, rising up against the oppressive state government.
The metaphor of the lone artist struggling for his freedom and use of craft is reflected against this larger canvas. That’s what makes this an important document worthy of more discussion, it shows the confinement of an artist in an upper- class apartment, perhaps the new prisons for the 21st century, where you’re told it’s a curfew and you need to be off the streets. Or your movie is banned and needs to be taken off the shelves.
In the final analysis, Jafar Panahi is a rebel, a filmmaker and a citizen. He says ‘no’ to the powers-that-be who would shut him up. The state controlled media tries to limit the mind-set of the people just as marketing imprisons us in our self-inflict- ed prisons. This film is not a film but a cautionary tale for all those future dystopian worlds that will lock-down the body, the mind and the soul. The subtext: “be quiet, or else.”
As Camus said: “the rebel is the one who says: no.” Our only chance in the coming ‘lockdown’ of mind, body and soul is to say ‘no.’ And Jafar Panahi’s ‘film’ shows us a way to do it. A way to use whatever means we have at our disposal to say ‘no’ to the powers that be, that want to crush our spirit of freedom. The standing ovation was well deserved. Check it out online or at your local library!
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The College of Arts & Letters Film Series (CAL) plows on with four more great flicks honoring “The Screenwrit- er: Oscar Winning and Oscar Nominated Original Screen- plays” in April. These might be the best four scripts, back to back the series has ever put together!? You be the judge. On Tuesday nights at 7PM in Cline Library watch these great films for free successively in this order. April 7
- Unforgiven; April 14 – The Usual Suspects; April 21 – Good Will Hunting and April 28th Lost in Translation. Great ques- tion and answers sessions follow with Paul Helford and Paul Donnelly. My favorite script is: ALL FOUR! Don’t miss. Check: NAU.edu/FilmSeries
The NAU International Film Series continues with its theme of: “Oppression and Liberation” this Spring. Films screen Wednesday nights in room 120 of the Lib- eral Arts Building at 7PM for free! Most films are not rat- ed, so viewer discretion is advised. These films will show on successive Wednesday nights: April 1 – The Flat; April
15 – The Decent One; April 22 – Lacome, Lucien and April 29 – The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstal. Check: NAU.edu/IntFilms
The Sedona International Film festival (SIFF) shows wonderfully eclectic films, plays, dance and LIVE shows in April at the Mary D. Fisher building in Sedona. Saw Mr. Turner and The Most Violent Year during spring break and it was wonderful to see these Academy Award nomi- nated films anywhere in Arizona, but especially at Mary D. Fisher theater. The BANFF outdoor Mountain Film Festi- val’s traveling show hit Sedona Performing Arts Center March 16th to a nearly sold out crowd of 700. What a wild ride those award winning outdoor shorts gave us! Go to their website at SedonaFilmFestival.com for a list of screenings, times and dates.
| Bob Reynolds juiced himself something new while within the red rocks. bob@thenoise.us
18 • APRIL 2015 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us