The Iran Job

It is a different take on life in Iran. Kevin Sheppard is a college basketball star turned basketball world traveler as he goes from country to country paid to play basketball. He is not good enough to turn pro but decent enough to play for international leagues. I enjoyed seeing the contrast between the official "America is evil" take that the Iranian government pushes with the kind, warm way that Kevin Sheppard is treated by the Iranian citizens. He meets some pretty Iranian women one of whom develops a crush on him and brings him home to eat with her family. He is oblivious to her interest because he has a girl friend back home. Sweet funny movie with a touch of politics thrown in for good measure.

It is an amazing movie. An American basketball player arrives in Iran with misconceptions and returns to the United States with a transformed image.

First things first, the film was really entertaining. The people who made it were able to see where the story was and chase after it, my original plan had been to watch the initial 20 min of the film and leave the rest for another day but before I knew it I was near the end of the movie; and that can't be said about most films nowadays!

The reason why I didn't give it a higher score is due to some national facts being wrong about Iran, apart from displaying Chris, the basketball player travelling to Iran, as a hero among iranian sheep, which having met many iranians during my life I strongly believe it couldn't have been further away from the truth. Had they left the judging aside and just shown things the way they are, so that the audience can make up their own mind the film might have just been that much better off.

I am making comments on this film in reaction to a previous review I saw which completely slammed it on very little basis. Firstly, I didn't think the 3 Iranian women in the documentary came across as having "no other worries other than becoming an actress or getting married" - anything but - they were strong women prepared to speak up about the political situation in Iran and the position of women. I'm not surprised they are in trouble with the authorities and my one criticism of the film makers is that they effectively encouraged them to reveal their identities in one scene on the understanding that the film was not going to be seen by those inside Iran. The most important outcome of the film for me was Kevin's (The US basketball player's) comment that he now thought he understood and respected the point of women on a deeper level since knowing these women in Iran.

Iranians in the film didn't come across as "hopeless idiots" nor did Iranian culture as "shallow and ridiculous". I wonder if we saw the same film really? A clue to this hopelessly negative review, however, might be the reviewer's statement: "It was unfortunate that I wasn't informed about this movie's exceptionally low quality beforehand, so I figured I do my share of informing those who haven't spent their time and money on it yet". I'm always wary of people who look to be "informed" of a film's low quality beforehand - who would do the informing? Someone with exactly the same views as yourself, I suppose. Most people prefer to make their own minds up.

Also, by the way, it is a difficult, if not totally unfair, task to compare a fictionalised blockbuster Hollywood drama like "Argo" with a very small budget documentary like "The Iran Job". Personally, I admire Argo as an exceptional film but you only have to know a few Iranians to know how controversial Argo is to them. Many regard the portrayal of the Iranian characters in it as just as stereotypically idiotic as you claim those in the Iran Job to be.

This movie isn't slick enough to win any big awards, but what the filmmakers accomplished is incredible. It's the story of Kevin, a college basketball star from the US Virgin Islands whose career as a journeyman international basketball player takes him to one of the least likely places for an American to end up: Iran. Despite his concerns about the country, he agrees to be brought in as a ringer for an upstart team. He needs to justify the substantial investment the team made in him by leading them to the playoffs, but in order to do so, Kevin will need to do more for the team than simply being its best player.

This story serves as the substrate for a fascinating on-the-ground view of Iranian society, behind the walls created by feuding governments. You see that despite living under an authoritarian regime, the real Iranian people have desires and dreams not unlike their Western counterparts. You see much about their society that is admirable, even as people struggle against the constraints of tradition and an authoritarian government.

One can't help feeling that the world would be a much more peaceful place if ordinary people simply got to know one another. Any movie that can produce such a feeling is worth a watch.