Thursday, August 23, 2012

Fireworks Wednesday (2006)

Just like most people in the west incorrectly consider Slumdog Millionaire to be the de-facto portrayal of present day India, I had my own image of Iran in my head- filled with goats and desert. A Separation was a real eye-opener showing a well-educated, middle class family living in Tehran. Fireworks Wednesday, which released 6 years ago, appears to have been cut from the same cloth as A Separation. 

I think everyone will agree that it worked just fine as a thriller. After establishing the primary conflict in the opening scene, it quickly moved on, peeling off its layers with no intention of offering you a moment to breathe. Even the ending offered no respite. It had me deep in thought for days. Fireworks Wednesday progresses similarly, but unlike the former, it reaches its pinnacle fairly early. I wouldn't say it's all downhill from there, but the tension surely eases.

Our eyes and ears in this world is a young maid named Rouhi, who is soon to get married to a person who is madly in love with her. She inadvertently gets embroiled in a conflict happening on the most critical day of another couple's married life. As the clutter in their house gets cleared, the problems in their marriage keep worsening. It just occurred to me Rouhi's chador was the source of much of her troubles on the day.

During its course, the movie often suggestively points its finger at various characters, blaming them for the situation. As I was in the process of convincing myself of that and beginning to believe it, my suspicions were allayed making me look foolish for jumping to conclusion. This happened with A Separation as well, when I looked down at the maid's husband just because he wasn't educated.

Farhadi's fascination with maids is another thing. My Mom often says this: if you want to let people in your neighborhood know something, talk about it when your maid is around. I am sure he agrees as it can be seen from his films. Or maybe women working as maids is another essential component in Iranian milieu.

Infidelity has existed and shall always do, irrespective of the place, and no amount of religious curtains can hide it. Handling such an issue, especially in a volatile, charged society must be a real challenge. The topic of religion is inseparably wound with Iran. The women fear going out without donning their chador, strangers wish each other with a salaam - these elements and mannerisms which may appear normal to native Iranian eyes stand out for someone like me.

The promise of marriage shines bright for everyone but the love soon fades away. Making relationships work in our modern day society is incredibly hard and most of them end in divorce, and the ones who stick together are only compromising. I hope this cynicism-laden reading of the film's message is not true, but I fear it may be correct. Ultimately, your faith gets partially restored when Rouhi's fiancee comments how she looks even more beautiful after threading her eyebrows, when you fear he might flip out.

I have yet to see About Elly but I suspect Farhadi has made a trilogy of sorts with his last three films, primarily dealing with truth as his subject. This one too is open ended but not very unsettling. It is very good film but doesn't match up to its successor's magic.