Ashk-e sarma

Iranian film week in Budapest December 1, 2008 Two War Films, "Cold Tears", 2004, and "Night Bus", 2007.

The war between Sadam Hussein's Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran lasted nearly a decade, from 1980 to 1988, and was treated as a kind of side-show in the western press, but it was the main event in that part of the world and has provided fodder for countless Iranian films ever since. Two of these were presented in the current survey. Dated 2004 and 2007 these films show that nearly 20 years down the line this war is still far from a forgotten issue, especially as Mr. Bush's war in Iraq is still going on right at Iran's front door.

"Tear of the Cold" (Ashke-Sarma) is a love story between an Iranian soldier and a beautiful Kurdish sheperdess set in 1983 against the background of a Persian military outpost in hostile Kurdish territory near the border with Iraq. The Kurds want independence from both Iran and Iraq and harass the Iranians by planting deadly land mines all around their encampment. The ravishing sheperdess, Ronak, tends her goats near the perimeter of the camp and serves as a decoy to cover the activities of the Kurdish militants.

A handsome young Iranian soldier, private Hayani, an expert in mine detection, arrives on the scene, but aside from his critical skills he is too friendly with the local Kurds refusing to treat all Kurdish civilians as potential enemies in defiance of the established Iranian military code. Before long he has gotten emotionally involved with Ronak the sheperdess on the perimeter of the camp,and she with him, although she is under orders to assassinate him. The climax of the film is reached when the amorous enemies are trapped in a cave for several days during a blinding snow storm, leaning on each other for survival while her growing feelings for the kindly soldier keep her from carrying out her mission.

When the storm lifts there is a big shootout after which soldier and sheperdess go their separate ways. In the spring, however, we are back to square one -- she tending her flock in sight of the camp, he on a mine detecting patrol. They spot each other and throwing all caution to the winds rush toward each other ecstatically, and -- of course -- both step on mines and get blown sky high.

This is a tense totally engrossing romantic tragedy brilliantly photographed and expressing more than a little sympathy for the plight of the stateless Kurdish populace straddling three borders in the region. Written and directed flawlessly by Azizollah Hamidnejad with a highly appealing hero and heroine, this was one of the more satisfying films of the week. The strikingly beautiful actress Golshifteh Farahani, who plays the sheperdess, Ronak, has been discovered by Hollywood and can currently be seen in a new Ridley Scott film, "Body of Lies", opposite Leonardo Dicaprio!

Golshifteh Farahani (Persian: گلشیفته فراهانی)

Usually the most engaging war films are the ones that go beyond the battlefield to show the intersections between society and war, and between individuals lives and national destinies. 'The Tear of the Cold' (though I do believe 'Frozen Tears' would have been a more elegant, if not literal, translation) is one such film. For those of us unfamiliar with the details of the Iran-Iraq war, and of the history of the Kurdish people, a slide with this basic history, placed perhaps at the beginning of the film, would have been useful. But the human dimension of the story -- the difficult relationship between a soldier and a shepherdess -- comes through powerfully. The noble soldier is uni-dimensional; it is the novel reading shepherdess who comes across as the more nuanced character, as portrayed by Farahani. The film-maker has been permitted some degree of autonomy to criticize the actions of the army, and to reveal the poignant tragedy of a people caught between two rival armies. A slow film, but a rewarding one.

The eight year old war with Iraq has been the source of material for countless Iranian movies. They have ranged from great to poor, from tragedy to comedy, covering almost every conceivable subject related to this war. Ashke Sarma (Tear of the Cold) is one of the best and most original of these films. A small Iranian squadron is fighting Kurdish separatists. The Kurds' main weapon is their expertise in placing mines around the squadron and killing them one by one. In order to distract the soldiers from their mine detection activities, a beautiful Kurdish girl runs around the hills atop the squadron's HQ making noises. This has been a successful decoy resulting in a number of the soldiers being blown up by mines. Help for the squadron, however, arrives in the shape of a young soldier from the engineering corps. He proves an expert in mine detection thus thwarting the rebels' plans. The Kurdish girl is thus assigned with entrapment of the soldier so that her comrades can kill him. Fate, however, naturally entraps the two protagonists in a cave in the bitter cold of the winter and the girl must fight her growing affection for the soldier to be able to fulfill her mission. Tear of the cold is a tense, suspenseful and totally engrossing film. It is very well directed and strikingly photographed. The acting by the young two leads is perhaps the best of their career. It's a film well worth catching.

The film takes place in the early 1960s and early 1980s, in the midst of Iran's internal disputes, when parts of Iran (such as Kurds and Turks) are planning to separate from Iran. But the focus of the film and its major part is on human relations between people. That human emotions and morals are the same for every conscious conscience regardless of war, differences and ethnic and previous differences. The end of the tragedy of the film adds to its artistic value. In addition to the good script and beautiful narration, there are professional actors in the movie who have made the movie more spectacular with their perfect acting. Overall, the movie is memorable and impressive and shows that war has never been good for people.