Reform Cinema in Iran: Film and Political Change in the Islamic Republic by Blake Atwood (review)

Crowds of Iranian youth went to the polls on May 23, 1997, to cast their votes for Mohammad Khatami, the smiling, well-dressed, relatively polished, and eloquent cleric who stood for a platform of civil society and pluralism in Iranian society but within the established governing structure of the Islamic republic. His reformist message, eslah (reform) versus enqelab (revolution), resonated strongly within a society weary of radical revolutionary changes and coincided with the intellectual realization that change should come gradually from within for it to be effective and not harmful. Khatami’s moderate policies also differed sharply from those of his radical opponents, who sought stricter Islamic rule. Thus, the moderate Khatami’s all-inclusive and pluralistic message posed a stark contrast to the reactionary stances of the earlier decades of the revolution. He represented hope for the masses who desired change that differed in nature from what they had experienced in 1979, and yet a change that preserved Iran’s Islamic republican system. Khatami’s election as the president of the Islamic republic marked the first election of the revolution’s reformists to the highest executive office, which deterred violent opposition to the Islamic republic and guaranteed the stability of the regime.

Blake Atwood’s Reform Cinema in Iran seeks to flesh out the political intricacies of the reform era by analyzing Iranian art cinema. Atwood establishes an inextricable link between the culture of film and the political developments in Iran. While the official reform movement began with Khatami’s landslide victory, the author traces the beginning of reform in Iranian cinema to 1989 when Khatami was still the minister of culture and Islamic guidance, immediately following the end of the Iran-Iraq War and the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Iranian revolution and first Supreme Leader thereafter. There are clear advantages of looking back at Khatami’s activities as culture and Islamic guidance minister. The author provides well-researched and rather intriguing background to the reformist movement, including the subject of Khatami’s mostly shrouded dismissal/resignation from his ministerial post. Reform Cinema in Iran reveals the antagonism that evolved early on toward Khatami’s relatively liberal stance while he was at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance — a harbinger of the tensions that ensued during his presidency and plagued the Reformist Era up until 2005, the end of Khatami’s second term as president.

It is also noteworthy that Reform Cinema in Iran juxtaposes Khatami’s early challenges as a minister with the reception accorded Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s taboo-breaking film, Nowbat-e ‘asheqi (Time of Love) at the ninth Fajr International Film Festival in 1991. While the film received considerable criticism from hard-liners after its screening at the festival, as had the filmmaker’s Shabhaye Zayandeh Rud (Nights of Zayandeh Rud) the previous year, Nowbat-e ‘asheqi never earned the warm public reception of his earlier movies, such as 1987’s Dastforush (The Peddler) and Baysikleran (The Cyclist) and 1989’s ‘Arusi-ye khuban (The Marriage of the Blessed). In fact, both Shabha-ye Zayandeh Rud and Nowbat-e ‘asheqi were banned shortly after their screenings at the Fajr festival. The latter’s subject matter, in particular, further distanced him from the cultural project of the Islamic republic, as he began to offer unconventional solutions to issues related to gender and sexuality, and more specifically the issue of “honor” and so-called honor killings in Islamic societies. Atwood offers a succinct synopsis and analysis of Nowbat-e ‘asheqi, showing how Makhmalbaf questions and criticizes accepted traditions. The chapter stresses the audience’s reception to the film, which due to its early ban was quite limited — mainly confined to the domestic film festival’s audience. It is unfortunate that Nowbat-e ‘Asheqi is now one of the least viewed Makhmalbaf movies. Nevertheless, Atwood adroitly draws attention to the remarkable, culturally challenging aspects of...