SEPTEMBERS OF SHIRAZ

US, 2015, 110 minutes, Colour.
Adrien Brody, Salma Hayak, Shohreh Aghadashloo.
Directed by Wayne Blair.

It is almost 40 years since the toppling of the Shah in Iran, the Revolution of February 1979, the return of Ayatollah Khomeini and the imposition of Sharia Law. This film takes us back to that time.

The film tells its story of social change via the focus on a Jewish family who have lived for decades in Tehran, an expert jeweller and his wife, having built up a reputable company, employing many locals, having made jewellery for the Shah’s wife, enlarging his clientele of the fashionable women of the city. The film sets the tone at the opening with a fashionable party to farewell the couple’s teenage son who is going to study at an Academy in the United States. The Bee Gee’s Stayin’ Alive plays at the party, the women wear fashionable dresses and there is no sign of a scarf, except for the servant.

This society was to go, resentments against the Shah and the affluent and secular way of life boiling up, especially in many of the young men, so that they turn to Revolution, with the formation of the Revolutionary Guard.

Western audiences will be basically in sympathy with the family and not with the Ayatollah, the brutal treatment of prisoners and executions, the plundering of the wealthy. However, the screenplay does have an undertone of criticism of these wealthy families, their taking their position for granted, an exploitation of the poor and, especially, and often unwitting but taken-for-granted superior attitude towards those beneath them.

Adrien Brody portrays Isaac, the jeweller, a man of position and competence, sympathetic employer, who is suddenly arrested, interrogated by a hooded official, flung into a fetid cell, questioned, humiliated, tortured, experiencing so many others being selected for execution – and guards playing with him, standing him against a wall and firing all around him. He is Jewish and there is a suggestion that on his visits to Israel he was linked with some kind of spying. His brother is under suspicion (rightly) for smuggling vodka from Russia.

Salma Hayak plays Isaac’s wife, a strong performance especially in her scenes with the maid, Shohreh Aghadashloo, part of the family for 20 years, whose son is one of the revolutionaries and has planted doubts in his mother’s mind, makes her realise that for years she often been put down by her employer and never invited to share a meal. This is something of a shock for the wife.

While the film focuses on the family, there are glimpses of what is happening in the city, the role of the revolutionaries, the ideology – and it would have been interesting for further development of these themes.We do see the employees ransacking the business offices and taking possession of everything as well as the officials coming to the home and stripping it of furniture, artwork as well as jewellery.

So much pressure and torture makes Isaac willing to forfeit all his wealth for freedom. The final sequences offer familiar plotlines and escape, sympathetic gestures for the maid, but they fit the dynamic of the film for the fate of the family.

The film is very critical of the imposition of Sharia Law as well as its indiscriminate applications. While this may not be so urgent in contemporary Iran (although this is important for surface living in the Islamic Republic though it covers much secular behaviour), it is still relevant to situations in the Middle East, in Africa, in Indonesia…

A big surprise is that the film was directed by Australian, Wayne Blair, actor and director of The Sapphires and Redfern Now, and was photographed by Warwick Thornton, director of the award-winning Samson and Delilah.

1. Title? The history of Iran in the 20th century? Nostalgia for the past? Critique?

2. The atmosphere of Iran in the 1970s, the city of Teheran, the vistas, the homes, the streets, prisons, torture rooms and execution? The musical score?

3. Audience knowledge of the era of the Shah? Of the revolution of 1979? Of Ayatollah Khomeini? The subsequent years?

4. The focus on the family? The opening, a sense of freedom, the party, the son going to study in America, the Bee Gees and the music? The women, freedom of dress, no scarves? The westernised style? The fact that this was to disappear?

5. Isaac and Farnaz, their life, 20 years married, son and daughter? The comfortable life, their home, touch of luxury? Their maid? Isaac and his company, diamonds, prosperity, visits to Israel? His large staff and his giving them opportunities?

6. Isaac, the suddenness of the arrest? Taken by hooded men? Interrogations, the cell and the other inmates there for so long? Hardship? Meeting other prisoners, the violin teacher, musician? The selection of men for execution? The torture of Isaac by having him against the firing squad, the bullets around him? The continued interrogations, implications of espionage, work for the Shah? The long time in prison?

7. Farnaz, at home, driving her daughter to school, going through the revolutionary people in the street? At home, a comfortable life for so long? Her relationship with the maid? Unaware of her sense of superiority, being challenged by putting the maid down? Never inviting her to a meal over 20 years? Their going to the prison, the confrontation, not being allowed to see her husband? The anxiety, the phone calls from her son?

8. The pressure on Isaac, his wealth, his decision to give all his wealth to the government in exchange for freedom? The interrogator and his agreeing? The issue of identity with all the documents gone? Going home, the surprise for his wife, searching for the documents? Going to the bank, the officials, his signing away all his money?

9. His brother, relationship, smuggling vodka, the stealing of the ring and returning it, Farnaz and her suspicion of her maid?

10. Isaac and his being put on the street, the sense of freedom, breathing the air? The return home, the reunion? His daughter and her happiness? The plan to leave, going to the group for documents, using the diamonds which he had hidden in the house? The preparations, packing, the final meal and inviting the maid? Giving her the key for the documents to the house?

11. The revolutionaries, at the work, taking everything, furniture…? Coming to the house, taking all the artwork, the jewellery, the significance of the maid’s son, his work for Isaac, his ideology, resentment, poor, opportunities, taking everything from the house, his coming back to get the diamonds, Isaac and his speech condemning the man? The
young men having the document from the Shah, the rich clients? His taking it to the authority, the authority imprisoning him, burning the document?

12. The escape, the pursuit by the soldiers, the car, the fear when the soldiers asked for directions, driving out of the city, to the mountains, to the border, the men helping the crossing, the border guards, the phone call, the interrogator and his decision to let them go? To freedom?

13. Focus on 20th-century history? Iran? Revolutions? Revolution movements? Islam, Sharia Law? Persecution, torture? The background of the family as Jewish?