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BORN
UNDER LIBRA EXPOSES IRAN'S MORAL MINEFIELD
Born Under Libra, directed by Ahmad Reza
Darvish, is the latest of several films from Iran that focus
on the absurdity of Khomeni-era restrictions in general and
the plight of women in particular. Mahtab Peyman (played by
Mitra Hajjar) attends a distinguished private university in
Tehran where her authoritarian father is a prominent administrator.
When he learns that she has a boyfriend, Danial Moshtaq (played
by Mohammad Reza Foroutan), her father is so angry that he
pushes through a regulation that men and women should attend
different classes on the same campus. Students, in turn, protest
the sudden sex segregation, which they learn is due to an
unsubstantiated rumor that at least one male student has been
fraternizing with one female student. Soon, the students organize
a protest, with Mahtab eloquent in defying the authorities.
However, Danial admits to the indiscretion and meets her father,
who in turn slaps his face and orders his expulsion. After
the student protest, Mahtab has a flat tire, so Danial assists.
While he is changing tires for her, his briefcase is stolen
by two boys on a motorbike, so he chases the boys in Mahtab’s
car, and ultimately the two boys are seriously wounded. Police
bring the two boys, Danial, and Mahtab to the police station,
but soon her father arrives to bail out Danial and Mahtab,
after which he slaps her face. At this point Danial and Mahtab
decide to escape together to the south. At one point in their
journey torrential rain causes a flash flood, and they are
carried out to sea, landing at a deserted but fortified island
containing many mines. In due course Danial dies from an exploding
mine, and Mahtab finds her way back to Tehran after telling
him that her Zodiac sign is Libra (the sign of someone who
seeks social justice). Of course, the island of mines symbolizes
the country, where a minefield of social regulations is destroying
Iranians psychologically. As a film that raises issues about
government control of society, the Political Film Society
has nominated Born Under Libra for an award
as best film on human rights and best film exposé for
the year 2001. MH
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2001
VERSION FAILS TO APE THE SUCCESS OF THE EARLIER PLANET
OF THE APES
 In
1968, Planet of the Apes emerged as one of the
most profound films of all times, raising issues about racial
discrimination and nuclear war. Now a retake (not a remake)
with a roughly similar plot and a unique surprise ending,
is again based on the novel La Planète des singes
by Pierre Boulle. Directed by Tim Burton, the new Planet of
the Apes starts in 2029. Leo
Davidson (played by Mark Wahlberg) is on a space station along
with several caged apes; one chimpanzee has been trained to
fly a Delta Pod, a small space vehicle. An electromagnet storm
develops near the space station, so the ape is sent to get
readings, but his ship disappears. Unauthorized, Davidson
then tries to rescue the chimp and obtain information about
the storm, but he also gets sucked into a vortex and soon
his Delta Pod crashes in a rainforest on a planet sometime
in the future. Soon, humans are running past him, so he joins,
only to discover that apes are pursuing runaway humans, and
soon he is among those captured. While most apes tolerate
humans only for the subordinate roles that they perform, Ari
(played by Helena Bonham Carter) believes that apes and humans
can live as equals, but General Thade (played by Tim Roth)
wants to exterminate humans. As filmviewers will expect, Davidson
tries to lead humans out of captivity with the help of Ari,
and a showdown between a few humans and a large army of ferocious
apes occurs. Davidson discovers that the space station crashed
on the planet before he did, so the apes on board evolved
from the moment of impact, and the humans on the planet are
descendants of those who once manned the space station. Before
we see the outcome of the battle between apes and humans,
however, the chimp who started the unusual pursuit unexpectedly
makes a soft landing on the planet but dies soon after arriving.
Davidson then gets into the undamaged spacecraft to fly back
to earth, presumably to get help for the humans. When he lands,
however, the surprise ending is that apes have taken over
the planet (presumably, earth), a statue of Thade has replaced
Lincoln at what is now the Thade Memorial, Davidson is captured,
and we await the sequel to find out what will happen next.
A few lines throughout are intended to titillate politically
aware filmviewers, but those who bother to react will doubtless
guffaw on hearing lines about the dangers of technological
advances, the virtue of "extremism in the defense of
apes," a Rodney King quote, and how specieism (cruel
treatment of one species by another) demeans the dominant
specie. In contrast with the sage political messages of the
earlier film, the year 2001 version of Planet of the
Apes is thus devoid of an original insight or a profound
message. MH
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