"Home"; The Generation of "Oblivion" and the Generation of "Religious Hypocrisy"

"Home" (he) which won the Best Film award at this year's Fajr International Film Festival, is currently experiencing its European premiere at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival; the first feature by Asghar Yousofinejad, which is uniquely made in Turkish in Iranian cinema, takes place entirely in a house and attempts to engage the viewer in a complex situation. From the first shot to the last, the camera follows the characters' restlessness; a few characters who are entangled in a strange situation. The filmmaker makes no effort to introduce them or depict their past (everything about their past is summarized in a few sentences) and on the other hand, does not tell us anything about the characters' future (a future that could be life in Canada or in prison; and the filmmaker makes no effort to provide a clue to guide the viewer to choose between these two). So far, we are faced with the strengths of a film that is not bound by conventional character development and whose story is extremely strange and bears no resemblance to other films in Iranian cinema (a sick father who died before his death bequeathed his body to the medical school's dissection room, but his daughter, Saya, is strongly opposed, and ultimately the surprising reason for this opposition leads the film in a different direction). The film is about a sick society where each of the film's characters can represent it. The presence of religion, especially hypocrisy and religious deceit, drives a significant part of the film, and each character is somehow related to this theme throughout - or in parts of - the film; from the daughter who apparently claims that for religious reasons she does not want to give her father's body for dissection, to Majid, who is repeatedly emphasized as a religious person, and finally a neighbor cleric who enters this dispute as a symbol of religion towards the end of the film. The way the members of this traditional family narrate is very similar to similar examples that each of us has seen in real life in Iran; hence the filmmaker sees no need for character development and only narrates types that each reveal a part of a complex society (even, for example, a conscript soldier who is thinking about flirting over a corpse and a non-commissioned police officer who tries not to create trouble for himself - and others - and to finish everything simply without even writing a report). The film, by focusing on the younger generation, completely forgets the previous generation; metaphorically, all the elderly have become forgetful. The old aunt suffering from Alzheimer's believes that instead of a mourning ceremony, a wedding is being held and constantly asks about the music group (perhaps a reference to a generation that, by revolting, confused weddings with mourning) and the forgetful father has also left the world at the hands of the generation after him. In fact, the younger generation buries established beliefs and traditions with their own hands and wants to pave their way in the fastest and most surprising way. Now we are faced with a generation that believes in nothing and will do anything for its interests, and on the other hand, has no qualms about using religion as a lever to advance its interests (from Saya, who uses the element of religion to hide what has happened, to Majid "the religious" who is infatuated with her, and the soldier who gives his phone number to a girl under the guise of reading a "Fatiha"). However, despite its attractive idea, the film is not very successful in connecting with the audience - both specific and general - for a simple reason: the film heavily relies on dialogue, and if a viewer does not closely follow its dialogues, almost nothing else remains of the film, and not a single scene of the film has anything to say without dialogue and cannot stand on its own. The filmmaker - what a pity - still does not know the value of silence. From the first moment to the last, it continuously attacks its viewer and does not allow them to breathe (it goes without saying that narrating any tense situation requires visualization and utilizing the language of cinema; otherwise, relying solely on dialogue turns the film into a radio play). Also, the sound of the girl's wailing is bearable for the first few minutes but quickly becomes annoying and makes watching the film difficult; a film that, with a little contemplation - and reliance on imagery - could have been one of the best films of this year in Iranian cinema and could have attracted non-Iranian audiences; something that, in its current form, it fails to do. A foreign viewer quickly gets tired of following so many subtitles.