THE RIVERSIDE
Iran, 2004, 100 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Ali Reza Amini.
The Riverside is one of the first films in the world made about the war in Iraq in 2003. It focuses on the Kurds, the bombings in North -Eastern Iraq, the reaction of the Iraqi government and their oppression of the Kurds. The film shows a town being hit by bombs, the population fleeing and trying to reach the Iranian border.
The film is not only topical, it uses hand-held camera in many of its sequences to give a sense of urgency and reality, especially for the people confused during the bombings and trying to flee their town. However, the initial focus is on a young bride, dressed in her bridal wear, who has stepped on a mine in a field near the border. She is trapped, her husband runs to get help but is away all day. The film shows the anguish of the bride as she becomes more tired and thirsty, trying to keep her foot on the mine to prevent its explosion. At first alone, a number of refugees reach her.
The screenplay focuses on different refugees, showing their plight, intercutting them with one another and with the bride, until they all finally reach the bride, try to help her by encouragement, telling stories, singing. They are unable to help her with the mine - until the end of the film when the husband arrives and the weary bride lifts her foot inadvertently and is killed.
The range of people shown fleeing include a middle-aged man carrying the body of his son in plastic, wanting to take him back to Iran and bury him in Iranian soil. There are three elderly men, advised to follow the pylons for the electric wires till they reach the border, an old woman with a cow carrying all possessions which gets loose and runs away, an old grandmother carrying her two infant grandchildren, a soldier with several arms, trying to get to the border to sell them and finally, a group of refugees fleeing the town.
The film is quite eloquent in its comment on the effects of war on ordinary people - throughout the film some comments are given by the radio and television commentators about America and its bombing, the reaction of the Iraqis, the action of the Germans and the Russians and the comment on how politics affects ordinary people.
1. The film as topical? Made within months of the war in Iraq? Reflecting the emotions of 2003? The international awareness of the Americans and British attacking? The reaction of the Iraqis, of Saddam? Of the countries of Europe? Of the political stances of Donald Rumsfeld and the Americans? The perspective from subsequent years on the film and its analysis and portrait of war?
2. The locations, the Kurdish area of Iraq near the Iranian border, the mountains and their ruggedness, the open fields, the river? Authentic atmosphere? Music, the men playing for the bride, the songs?
3. The title, the placid nature of the river, yet the life-and-death struggles on its banks?
4. The use of the hand-held camera throughout the film, the sense of urgency, authenticity? The portraits of the various refugees, the tableaux of the people in their countryside, close-ups, middle shots, long-distance shots? The editing and pace, interweaving the stories, continually returning to the bride and her anguish? The people converging on the field where the bride was trapped?
5. The story of the bride, the opening and her terror, her husband reassuring her, his running to get help, the frequent shots of his feet running to get help? The delay in his return, the lookouts for him, announcing that he was coming, the bride standing there all day, thirst, heat, her legs tired, not moving, the soldier advising her to put the rock on her feet to give weight to them, listening to the singing, the stories, her exasperation, wanting them to stop? Her husband finally coming, her feet stepping off the mine and her death?
6. The man, carrying his son, wrapped in plastic, up the mountains, into caves, across the river? Putting him in the cave, his seeing the bride, his trying to reassure her, relaying the stories from the old woman? The people criticising him for not burying his son? His wanting to take his son back to his wife and to bury him in Iran? The final scene of him sitting on the mountain with his son's body?
7. The three men, being cantankerous, wanting a drink, trying to count the pylons as they passed them, the old man and his cantankerousness, their feeling that they were lost, coming across the bride and the other man, trying to help, the old man listening to the woman who lost the cow, trying to reassure the bride? Their singing? The two men as the lookouts?
8. The old woman with the cow, the chicken, her television set, wandering, singing to the cow, pegging her down, the plane going overhead, his getting loose, running away, her futile search, arriving at the field where the bride was, her trying to reassure her, the story of the endless divorces because the bride didn't like dry bread and fish-head but then had to accept her destiny?
9. The old woman with the two children, climbing the mountains, singing to them, telling the story of the family, badmouthing her son, their father, finally arriving at the field?
10. The soldier with his weapons, hiding from the helicopters, crawling through the fields, reassuring the bride, telling her to put the stone on her feet?
11. The group of refugees, seeing them in the town when the bomb fell, the utter confusion, their hurrying towards the border, arriving at the field, their trying to support the bride?
12. The film's attitude towards the Iraqis, their treatment of the Kurds, the bombing of the town? The Kurds having to flee to Iran for safety?
13. The attitude towards the Americans, Donald Rumsfeld, the British, the attitude of the Germans not expelling Iraqi migrants? The criticism of the Russians?
14. The people and their terror, the unknown, fearful of the helicopters going overhead?
15. The film as a record of the Kurdish area of Iraq and 2003 and the war?
