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THE
HIDDEN HALF EXPOSES THE ROLE OF FEMALES IN IRAN
Many recent films from Iran focus on the oppression
of women in post-revolutionary Iran, but none so deeply as
feminist Tahmineh Milani’s The Hidden Half (Nimeh-Ye
Penhan). Indeed, she was arrested, charged by Iran’s
Islamic Revolutionary Court of supporting "those waging
war against God" and of supporting counterrevolutionaries
through film when The Hidden Half was released;
she is now out on bail, and her arrest has even be criticized
by President Mohammad Khatami. The story, however, is much
milder than one might think. Fereshteh (played by Niki Karimi)
tells the story of her life in a manuscript secretly presented
to her husband Khosro (played by Mohammad Nikbin), a high-ranking
judge who is sent in the film to Shiraz to interview a woman
accused of a crime who has filed an appeal. After a flight
to Shiraz, the husband checks into a hotel, opens the dossier,
and discovers his wife’s autobiographical manuscript,
which she hopes will open her husband's eyes and soften his
heart to listen carefully to the woman’s case. She begins
her story when she is eighteen, attending the University of
Tehran. The revolution that swept the Shah from power piques
her interest in radical ideas, she joins a Communist sect,
and she distributes leaflets critical of the new regime. Her
activities bring her in touch with a pro-Mossadeq-era intellectual
(played by Atila Pesyani), who is intrigued by her naïve
dedication to a noble cause. While government authorities
crack down on the university campus and arrest agitators,
the intellectual offers her the possibility of escape to England,
but does not tell her that he hopes to live with her there.
The intellectual’s wife, however, tells her that he is
married so as to kill the relationship, and she stops seeing
him. She then marries but does not tell her husband about
her past and plays the subordinate role of a woman while secretly
frustrated that she has been denied her own identity over
more than two decades. The film ends as her husband interviews
the accused woman, who begin to relate a similar tale of suffering,
so filmviewers are in doubt what the husband will do next.
Iran’s authorities clearly objected to the sympathetic
treatment of counterrevolutionaries in the film, but the Political
Film Society has nominated The Hidden Half for
best film exposé and best film on human rights of 2001.
MH
FILIPINO
AMERICANS RESPOND TO ASSIMILATIONIST PRESSURES BY TAKING PRIDE
IN THEIR CULTURE
The plight of Filipinos in Los Angeles is featured
in The Debut. The Mercado family is about to
celebrate the 18th birthday of their daughter Rose (played
by Bernadette Balagtas), so a fiesta is organized. There is
an elaborate preparation of coiffure and food (including lechón),
dance performances are rehearsed (including singkil),
and friends and family (including her grandfather) are invited;
an emcee organizes the events, which begin traditionally and
end with everyone participating in the latest dance crazes.
The venue is the auditorium of a Catholic high school because
the family cannot afford a debutante ball at a ritzy hotel.
The real focus of the film, however, is on Ben Mercado (played
by Dante Basco), Rose’s eighteen-year-old brother. Despite
a scholarship offered by UCLA, Ben has cashed in some $6,000
in savings (including valuable comic books) to pay tuition
at the California School for the Arts. Ben, however, is a
disappointment to his family.
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His father Roland (played by Tirso Cruz III) wants him to
become a physician, Rose is chagrined that he will not help
in preparations for her party, and his Filipino relatives
think that he is snubbing them because he hangs around with
Caucasian students, including a girlfriend. Meanwhile, we
see why he is disenchanted with life among Filipinos: Everyone
tries to boss everyone else, using angry scenes, guilt, humiliation,
and even the threat of violence as control techniques, without
respecting or understanding one another. When the party begins,
Ben quickly becomes fed up as his parents try to tell everyone
that he will be going to UCLA, so he excuses himself from
the table to await the arrival of his two Caucasian friends,
Doug (played by Jayson Schall) and Rick (played by Brandon
Martin), who drive him to a party where he can meet his girlfriend.
But when they arrive, she is drunk and insults Ben by suggesting
that he eats dog; the party turns out to involve too much
booze and loud music, so the trio return to the birthday party.
Ben then gradually falls in love with his sister’s best
friend, Annabelle (played by Joy Bisco). Aside from the upbeat
part of the story, the interactions among the generations,
however, are designed to provide some humor as well as serious
consideration of many issues plaguing Filipino Americans that
have made the Mercado family so dysfunctional. One set of
issues deals with how the ambitions of the various generations
are unfulfilled; grandfather Carlos Mercado (played by Eddie
Garcia), who flies in from the Philippines, is disappointed
that his son is only a letter carrier, whereas Ben’s
father cannot understand how Ben’s future career in art
will bring credit to the family. The older generation is particularly
miffed that some younger Filipinos are giving up their culture.
Augusto (played by Darion Basco), a macho teenager, tries
to corner Annabelle, showing that those who have little intelligence
can gravitate to gangs and violence. Some themes focus on
relations between Caucasians and Filipinos, such as the remark
about eating dog meat. One Filipina friend of the family has
married a Caucasian, who keeps injecting silly remarks, such
as "Filipinos are not Asians; they are a Malay people."
A more politically savvy young Filipino reminds his peers
about how the Americans fought a war to stop the Philippines
from achieving independence from 1899 to 1902 and how American
residents of Philippine ancestry who fought in the U.S. Army
during World War II have never been given full G.I. Bill or
pension benefits (though he makes no mention of the Hanapepe
Massacre of 1924). Although the increasing importance of Filipinos
in American society, constituting as they do nearly half the
nursing staff at many hospitals, is duly recognized, surprisingly
there is no mention of Ben Cayetano, two-term governor of
Hawai`i. Augusto accuses Ben Mercado of being a "sellout"
for associating with Caucasians, not Filipinos, and ultimately
fists fly. Doug and Rick, nevertheless, are enchanted by Filipino
dance and music as well as the beauty and charm of the Filipinas.
The purpose of The Debut, thus, is for director
Gene Cajayon to tell Filipino Americans that they should be
proud of their culture and content to be themselves rather
than trying to please everyone (a common Filipino ambition)
while counting their material blessings amid the strange,
often hostile culture of Los Angeles. MH
POLITICAL
FILM SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP MEETING SCHEDULED FOR NOVEMBER 17
The annual general meeting of Political Film Society members
will take place on Saturday, November 17, at 7 p.m. The venue
will be 1215½ Seal Way, Seal Beach, California. The
principal agenda is to elect members of the Board of Directors
for 2001/02. Those wishing to attend can RSVP to polfilms@aol.com
for directions.
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