The Iran Job

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

I had a very hard time watching the movie "The Iran Job" last night.

In fact, I was ashamed of myself for ending up in it's screening. It was a disastrous work by so called Iranian-Americans who's understanding of Iran is limited to Ghormeh Sabzi and pictures of Isfahan's mosques, as well as American's who choose to work on Iranian related works, just because it's trendy these days.

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.

The Iran Job's presentation leads the _uninformed_ viewer to believe that: - Iranian men are hopeless idiots. - Iranian women have no other worries other than becoming an actress or getting married. - Iran is a ruin and a random American basketball player has it all figured out. - Iranian culture is shallow and ridiculous.

Although the portrayal of a stupid public could be to some extend accurate for any subset of the _human population_, I am super annoyed that this movie is trying to make a statement that _Iranians_ are this way. And of course the movie tried to accompany this shallow portrayal with cliché and heart-warming presentation of Iranian's sense of humor and hospitality. Just so that the Iranian audience laughs and forgets that they are being immersed into an untrue and unjust presentation of their very selves.

I am surprised that someone from the Iranian community actually promoted this movie, supporting a new set of stereotypes to be spread out about us and our country. I'm also annoyed that this movie has fooled people on KickStarter and gained so much funding. This is a clear example of misusage of such new platforms.

We Iranians need to pay more attention to what we support. Just because a movie is related to Iran and shows pictures of Esfahan and the green revolution doesn't mean that it's something we should _pay_ for. I understand that we are all frustrated by what has been happening to us in the past couple of decades. But I do think that our ignorance and in on our words "Jav Giri" is pretty much one of the main reasons of all the difficulties we experience as a country.

Please do not go to this movie and support it further. It lacks artistic excellence (as opposed to Argo) and it paints a horribly incomplete picture of Iranians and the situation in Iran.

P.S. I have no idea why the movie was showing footage of Esfahan's mosques when it was telling the story in Shiraz -- I guess they were assuming people wouldn't notice.

P.P.S According to the co-producer, the three women in the movie are all in trouble. Two of them have left the country and one of them has been detained and cannot leave. When I asked the co-producer why they portrayed such a horrible picture of them in this film, she said: "the women have been asked whether they want their faces to be blurred out in the movie and they have agreed not to."

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.

A great unknown among westerners is Iran. Yes, their government and western governments are at odds. But what I am talking about is the country--not the government. What is it like? What are the people like? Well, I cannot answer that first-hand (though I'd like to go there to visit one day), I do know that by glimpsing at the country through films that it isn't really all that different from us. The people, like any people, have similar hopes, dreams and humanity-- something you miss when you watch the news on TV. Try watching some of Majid Majidi's great films like "Children of Heaven" or "The Color of Paradise" and you'll see this humanity.

In the case of "The Iran Job", however, you have a documentary--not a staged film--in order to get a glimpse at life in Iran. Through the course of the film, you travel with Kevin Sheppard as he leaves the familiarity of life in St. Croix (the US Virgin Islands) and moves to Iran to play for one of their teams. Surprisingly, he is NOT treated like an outcast even though the official government position is clearly anti-American. I was shocked how much he bonded with the team and vice-versa and the film gives you glimpses into the way young women are dealing with a harsh Muslim climate as well as the country as it nearly plunged into civil war following their hotly contested election.

All in all, a very well made film that works on many levels (heck, I even liked the rapping in Farsi that is much of the soundtrack). It helps that you genuinely like Sheppard and his teammates but it also gives a rare chance to see folks as folks--and it's a real treat that, unfortunately, too few people will end up seeing.

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.