Leila
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: D Film: B-
Two films have been made about older-functioning societies
where the woman in a marriage is expected to explicitly bare children for their
husband and family. One such film was
the powerful Kadosh (1999), a bold Israeli film where the wife is
married to a young man with a very promising future in pursuit of his faith and
as a pillar of the community. The
result is tragic and painful in a way that is no one’s fault, examining how it
is sadly societal in a world rapidly changing.
Dariush Mehrjui’s Leila (1996) offers the same
situation in Iran! Here, we have the
strict religion of Islam, though they are not quite following it as if to be so
conservative. If anything, Leila (Leila
Hatami) and Reza (Ali Mosaffa) are a comparatively modern couple with success
in the secular part of Iran. With no
threat of being overruns by a Taliban-like government, they pursue the life
they want, until her inability to conceive causes a big shake up. Unlike Kadosh, where serious shock is
the order of the day, our title heroine must endure criticism from his family,
who obviously never cared for her in the first place except as a walking
incubator. Then there is the mother-in-law
who wants him to have a second wife!
These moments are even darkly comic, but Leila is
obviously hurt. However, Mehrjui’s
screenplay offers much depth of her character and her thoughts in some
exceptional voice-over moments as she thinks to herself in the middle of the
chaos and hypocrisy. This is rare in
American filmmaking, so to see it in a film out of Iran is a revelation, and
helps show how smart this picture really is.
Some aspects of the film are predictable, but the film really shines
when the focus is on her. This is not
to say the other characters are trivial, and Reza obviously has issues Leila
did not know when she married. Being we
do not see much of this culture to begin with this way, that in itself is
impressive.
The 1.66 X 1 letterboxed image is average, from an old analog
transfer, with old subtitles on the print that sometimes fringe. Cinematographer Mahmud Klari offers a rich
look at an Iran that crosses the old and the new, but this transfer does not
always do justice to that vision. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is in Farsi and shows its age. There are no extras.
It is also fair to say that the conclusion is surprising
and makes any parts that drag worth sitting through. With all that has happened in the region since its release, Leila
proves Iran is more than just the U.S. news media stereotype of angry Muslims
marching in the streets hating the U.S., its allies, and Israel. It proves once again that when it comes to a
better world understanding of people, cinema is still king!
- Nicholas Sheffo
