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SOURCES
OF IRAN'S POPULARITY IN IRAQ EMERGE IN MAROONED
IN IRAQ
Marooned
in Iraq (Gomgashtei dar Aragh), directed by Bahman
Ghobadi, is perhaps an Iranian counterpart of Saving
Private Ryan (1998). Mirza (played by Shahab
Ebrahimi) has been summoned by his estranged fourth spouse,
Hanareh, presumably from a place in Iran's Kurdistan at the
border with Iraq. A consummate singer, she has been entertaining
refugees streaming out of Iraq due to the chemical warfare
conducted by Saddam Hussein against the Kurds in the aftermath
of the Gulf War of 1991. As a good husband, Mirza proceeds
to the northwest corner of Iran with his sons Audeh (played
by Allah-Morad Rashtian) and Barat (played by Faegh Mohammadi);
all three men and Hanareh are renowned musicians. While the
three travel to the snowbound north, they hear of a litany
of atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein against the Kurds.
The first word about the fate of the Kurds comes from a fellow
traveler, who goes to the border to trade, boasting that he
makes a lot of money selling to the refugees; but in time he
is stripped of all his money and most of his clothes by unidentified
bandits among the refugees. Two other men, including one who
claims to be a police officer, are also stripped of all but
thermal underwear by thieves. At one point, Mirza and his two
sons reach the border, at a camp consisting of children who
have been orphaned by Saddam Hussein, whose forces massacred
all the people in an Iraqi Kurdistan town. While they are learning
from a schoolteacher (played by Saeed Mohammadi), they observe
Iraqi planes bombing various targets, including villages and
refugee convoys. Audeh has no son despite attempts with seven
wives, so he is overjoyed when two of the female refugee workers
informs him that he can easily adopt two sons from the camp;
he is especially pleased that he can gain male heirs without
the inconvenience of having an eighth wife, though he is scolded
by one of the women in the camp for his sexism.
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Meanwhile,
Barat begins a love affair with one of the women. As Mirza
is about to trudge forward to Iraq's Kurdistan in the snow
beyond the camp, which may contain landmines, Barat wants to
accompany him. However, the schoolteacher warns Mirza that
Iraqi authorities will capture his son, force him to be a soldier
in their army, and he might never be seen again. Accordingly,
Mirza tells Barat to stay behind and consummate the incipient
love affair. When he reaches Raman, the village where Hanareh
is supposed to reside, he discovers that the town no longer
exists; indeed, the Kurds are discovering mass graves. The
residents have either been shot, captured, or have fled. Because
of the use of chemicals, the few surviving women are disfigured
and unable to produce milk for their infants. One of the women
is Hanareh, but she refuses to identify herself to Mirza, and
her voice has been so damaged by the chemical warfare that
Mirza cannot recognize her. Instead, she gives Mirza her
son so that
he can care for him. Hanareh, in short, called for Mirza to
take a long and perilous trip to give her son a chance to live.
The obvious contrast between the caring Iranians in the film
and the evidence of brutality of the Saddam Hussein may appear
to be an exercise in propaganda, but political aspects are
in the background. The foreground of the plot is about a husband
who dutifully responds to a call of distress from a wife whom
he has not seen in the twenty-three years since she decided
to abandon him and live in Iraq's Kurdistan as wife of another
man, Seyed, who in turn he learns toward the end was yet another
victim of Saddam Hussein. At the same time, the film can be
seen as a plea for better treatment of the Kurds. Based on
the fact that Iran provided a safe haven to many Iraqi refugees
for more than a decade, Marooned in Iraq also
explains why Iran will have a great deal of popularity in post-Saddam
Iraq. Indeed, Marooned in Iraq is
the first movie to open in newly liberated Baghdad. Accordingly,
the Political Film Society has nominated Marooned
in Iraq as best film exposé of 2003. MH
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