Gabbeh (Iran)
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: B Film: B
Can the problematic and oppressive Iran actually be
developing a new cinema of world caliber?
Abbas Kiarostami’s The Wind Will Carry Us (1999, reviewed
elsewhere on this site, both on DVD from New Yorker) was not bad, but Mohsen
Makhmalbaf’s Gabbeh (1996) may have made that film possible by going
further earlier. The story opens with
the title garment/document and an older couple in the middle of nowhere, but
near water. When it is washed, a young
woman appears and the beginning of its stunning tale of women in Islamic
countries begins.
Visually and thematically, the film exposes, criticizes,
juxtaposes and questions censorship and a society divided and re-restricted
throughout this semi-fictional, poetic and fantasy film about the colorful
young lady and her reflection of so many women’s lives lost, mutilated, ruined,
suppressed and denied. The film more
than has in mind the extremist rollback of women’s rights after Iran’s 1979
extremist overthrow of a Democratic government that was itself more extreme
than it should have or needed to be. A
huge, immeasurable price has been paid by the world since, as even at the time
of this posting, Iran is still in the middle of international controversy. The beautiful colors are bright, natural,
upbeat, free and the total opposite of the oppression the Islamic bloc has
imposed on these innocent women who are raped, mutilated, exploited and even
killed in the highly dishonorable “honor” killings that put the upswing in
misogyny up their anti-Semitism. Made
to wear blacks and other dark color, the intent is to hide women in shrouds of
clothes and dark pseudo-masculinity. Gabbeh
is a deep document that uses many layers to question these issues in the most
profound of ways. As Islamic extremism
continues, it will only gain resonance.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image looks like it
was shot on video at times and is likely a PAL master that was not converted
back to NTSC, though despite the image trouble (ghosting, detail trouble), the
color is exceptional and purposely so.
This saves the image form being a major problem. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Farsi Stereo has some
Pro Logic surrounds and playback either way is good. Extras include the original trailer and an exceptional audio
commentary by film scholar Godfrey Cheshire, who also contributes a nice essay
in the paper foldout inside the DVD case.
Gabbeh is a remarkable work all should see.
- Nicholas Sheffo
