The House Is Black

It was the only movie made by Forough Farrokhzad.

A documentary of 20 minutes length; actually it is a documentary only at the first level of meaning: the disturbing images from a leper colony are meditated in verses that partner what's flowing on the screen. Fragments from Psalms, from Koran, from her own poetry. And her stanzas, sometimes in sync with the images, some times in counterpoint, always challenging the versets from the sacred books. One of the greatest poets of the twentieth century, that's what I believe Forough Farrokhzad is.

This movie is a cinematic poem: empathy for the extreme suffering, desolation that we cannot escape from our condition, and, in the same time, awe in face of the beauty of creation.

I think the key of the movie is done by two verses:

Who is this in hell Praising you, O Lord?

The hell is also part of the world; and it is ultimately beautiful because world is beautiful.

This is extraordinary here in the movie: the subtle impulse to see the Universe as beautiful in all its dimensions, even in its ugliest expressions - to see the splendor of the human condition, even in its most horrible shape.

Or maybe the verses tell us something slightly different: as they are in turn fearful, desolate, bitter, pessimistic, sarcastic against God and praising God, it is here the honesty and the courage of the poet to recognize having all these contradictory feelings. And this speaks indeed about the splendor of the human condition: to encompass everything, to assume all contradictions, to be their sovereign - as the Universe is.

Quite surprising to see a documentary like this coming from the country Iran. You wouldn't think they would be too happy of showing leper patients and colonies to the entire world but yet this documentary managed to get made and released and is still globally considered to be an important one and is seen as the beginning of Iranian new wave.

It isn't really a documentary that tries to tell or story or gets a point across but it's more one that simply shows you things with its images. The visuals tell all you need to know. It shows the effects of leprosy on people of all ages and in all its various stages, also in its most gruesome and devastating forms.

It still does provide some information on the disease, to learn the Iranian people about it and make them aware of the decease and the fact that there are leper colonies in the country, in which people are living a normal as possible life and are also receiving treatment and going to school.

In that regard this is also somewhat of a more hopeful documentary, rather than a depressing one that shows you unhappy and incredibly sick or suffering people, who are waiting for their deaths. The documentary even makes it very clear that the decease is indeed curable and is not something that is inherited, so it's something that can be banned out completely with time, when taken the right precautions.

The hopefulness and thankfulness gets also illustrated by the many Koran lines that got put over the documentary and were delivered by the people with leprosy. In it they thank their God for everything they have. Or is there perhaps some reversed deeper meaning to it, trying to make a statement about the treatment of leper sufferers and the ruling power that puts them in these colonies. But this is something we often assume is the case with any movie/documentary coming out from a country that at the time suffers from an oppressing power or government. Perhaps we shouldn't read too much into it and simply appreciate the documentary for what it clearly is on its surface. Still the movie its very last shot makes me think it was a sort of a protest movie as well.

But even when you don't get that out of this documentary or don't want to read too much into things, you should be able than more to appreciate this documentary, since of the entire way it got shot and told. It has some great, beautiful, black & white cinematography, as well as a pleasant quick editing style and directing approach by female director Forugh Farrokhzad, who was better known as an important poet, during and after her lifetime, which ended abruptly in a road accident, only a couple of years after this movie.

An unique watch into a leper colony.

8/10

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This short makes my top 30 favorite films of all time. I didn't expect to love it as much as I did when I first saw it considering how poor the quality of the film is (in fact, there are a couple points where I can't make out the subtitles in the film due to how they blend in with the background). Given this, what did it do to impress me so much?

The line "Leprosy is not incurable" is repeated twice throughout an opening sequence which states facts about leprosy, almost as if to make sure the meaning of that line isn't lost concerning the grisly images we see of the people with the disease. Considering how the narrator points out how other people with the disease were cured when treated for it, this monologue also indicates that all the people we see suffering in the film could be cured of this disease. It's just that the government failed to take care of them as, instead of solving the problem, they herded them into the colony documented in the short, leaving them to further deteriorate. Instead of this scene coming off as preachy, this unspoken message is implied rather than directly stated, making for a really powerful scene. Regardless of whether you pick up on this implication or not, it still manages to get under your skin.

Farrokhzad also does a great job at exploring the ironies of the daily lives of the people in the colony, specifically with religion. Multiple sequences indicate that religion is a major part of their cultures. In one scene, a group of kids thank God for giving them hands, eyes, and ears - features which many people in the colony don't have. In another powerful moment, a man holds his withered hands in the air and refers to hands while reciting a prayer. This is followed by a sequence which cuts between a group of people practicing religion and several shots of people with deformed body parts which were brought about due to the disease, in turn creating tension with this editing technique. The viewer can't help but wonder why all these people thank God for giving them gifts which many of them don't have. It seems likely that religion is an abstract concept in their lives and they don't think much about the words and prayers they say.

In addition, a few sequences in the film stick out to me as especially powerful. The first of which shows a couple women putting on makeup and brushing their hair. This scene shows how, in spite of their facial and bodily features, many of the people in the colony still make an effort to look "beautiful", as if their goals are to connect with their past lives or to find light in such a depressing environment. Another scene shows a group of boys playing ball together. Unlike a number of the older people we see in the colony, their mobility doesn't seem to be effected by their disease. Despite this though, the grotesque facial features of a number of them are hard to ignore and, considering how the shot which immediately follows this sequence shows a man with one leg slowly walk down a path with the help of crutches, the short seems to suggest that those boys will grow up with further suffering and that they won't be able to experience moments like this unless they're cured of their disease (one effective shot which occurs earlier in the film shows a man giving his crutch to a boy to play with). One final scene worth mentioning is the classroom scene at the end. Something about this scene, specifically some of the answers the boys give to their teacher, makes it feel staged. It just seems too suited for the messages Farrokhzad wants to send to have naturally occurred. While I usually find staged scenes like this to be jarring in documentaries, I didn't mind it so much in here as it's still able to make for a devastating critique of religion.

Overall, this is a perfect short. Instead of solely raising awareness for the issue documented in it, Farrokhzad has several artistic points which she incorporates into the dialogue and the visuals of the film quite flawlessly as many of them are subtle or implied rather than directly stated. Sadly, Farrokhzad died shortly after this film was released, making this the only film she directed. Who knows what else she could've given us? However, this film will forever stand as a masterpiece to me and, if you can get by the occasional issues with the subtitles, you're in for a great treat with this one.

I hope my son's upcoming college class on Iranian film will be enlightening and enjoyable. In preparation for that, his instructor asked him to watch this short from Forugh Farrokhzad.

I had heard her name before but thought she was exclusively a writer (and one I have not yet read, alas).

Seeing this film....and reading a little more about her, was illuminating. And added to the spell that Iranian art has cast upon me.

It starts with an image, a reflection in a mirror. A scarred face, covered both by hijab and leprosy - with one eye searching. Who is watching who?

Actually, that is a lie. It starts with words. As befits a poet.

The film is available online, and I would almost recommend just reading the subtitles once through (or if they are excerpted somewhere, read them there before watching). Granted, I can only take in English, my tongue far from mastering Farsi. So hearing the words, Farrokhzad's long-gone but still-not-silent voice are part of the experience. Soft repetitions, almost mantras or prayers. Much questioning.

Is this the film that launched Kiarostami, Farhadi and others? There is an unflinching look at society. There is a tendency towards a more poetic than precise description. Thought above plot. Images too that may contrast the official story, of the film....or of the censors.

Images linger too - aspects of beauty, the combing of hair, and a camera pan to reveal. The applying of kohl with ravaged hands to a ravaged face. Still there is pride, there is beauty. The camera jumps into the middle of a volleyball game. We are there with them. We are them.

I do think that is the simple story here, Davids Bowie and Lynch gave us "Elephant Man." Farrokhzad moves through similar stark shadows. Honestly there is more light here. In a documentary. That dancing/singing/humming man. The laughter in the class room. Food, music, learning, work, love - these define us all as humans.

Anyways, I look forward to watching the movies in parallel with my son and his classmates. I've previously seen about half of them, which I will enjoy revisiting, like meeting up with a dear forgotten friend. But new introductions like these, I too will cherish.

Reading up on Farrokhzad, it is hard not to think of the film at least partially as a pariah dismissing those who dismiss her. There is a cure for leprosy, the film plainly repeats, though it is not a soft prayer, it is a hard fact. That said there is a biological cure, but perhaps not a societal one.

Like the great Iranian films that followed this one, there may be something that is not said and said at the same time.

There is so much beneath the surface. Of cinema, of society, of skin.

I noticed some reviewers thought that MAYBE this film is about something other than its obvious subject, leprosy. Well, after seeing it, I think it's about leprosy. Sure, there's a bit more to it than that, but the film really does seem to be about lepers.

As the film progresses, various Muslim prayers and quotes from the Koran are read either by the narrator or by some of the subjects in the film. These are all about beauty and grace of God and are a sharp contrast to the lepers you see throughout the film. Although they appear very pitiful, most seem rather happy, though the film doesn't appear to try to say 'hey, it's great to be a leper'--more that in this day of medical miracles, Hansen's Disease (leprosy) IS curable and it's a horrible thing that so many go untreated. Forugh Farrokhzad (who wrote, directed and appears in the film) does not discuss WHY so many in her native Iran were untreated at the time--just that there is a SHARP contrast between the goodness of God and the plight of these people.

This film is unpleasant and will make you think. However, it's a very well made film--one that strikes the viewer with sadness and forces you to look into the ugly face of the illness.