The Hidden Half

The wife of a senior Judge and mother of their two children learns that he is to travel to remote village to hear death row appeal of woman imprisoned for 20 years since shortly after the Shah was deposed. She writes a long letter/diary & packs it in his suitcase for him to read. This details her past as a communist supporter while first in college, her near arrests for activism, and her first unconsummated love for an older intellectual. Her husband has known her for 16 years only as the kind, gentle and pure woman who was caring for his mother when he returned to Iran 4 years after the revolution.

This film was released in Iran, but shut down after a month. Tahmineh Milani, the director was imprisoned for a while for her descriptions of youthful political activity, the first stirrings of love in young woman. Yet perhaps the most threatening parts of the Hidden Half are depictions of the thuggish behaviors of the religious conservatives, and the ongoing grudges held by some "conservatives" against those who voiced different hopes for Iran after the Shah was deposed.

The director reports that the film has been returned to Tehran movie screens and she now is on parole. She made this film to help people remember what happened in the early days of the revolution, which she believes is necessary before there can be any useful dialogue between moderates and conservatives in contemporary Iran.

The acting is compelling while the story shows the sensitivity and subtlety of the best Iranian cinema. But the central theme in the film, "do not rush to judgment without understanding all sides" is a message for the entire world; a message particularly important for North America today.