Many
films over the years have focused on the adjustment of immigrants
to life in the United States. Maryam raises
that genre to a new level of tension, concentrating as it
does on Iranian Americans. When Maryam Armin (played by Mariam
Parris) was an infant, circa 1965, her parents moved to suburban
New Jersey, where her father Darius (played by Shaun Toub)
practices medicine. At the beginning of the movie, Maryam
is in high school and a member of the school paper staff.
Although Darius forbids her to wear makeup and closely monitors
her social life, she insists on being called "Mary"
and has a very attractive blond boyfriend (played by Victor
Jory) despite the fact that her home life puts her on edge;
indeed, he later confides that others perceive her as "stuck
up," presumably because she is so assertive with her
peers in light of the restrictions at home. Filmviewers will
also note that Maryam is politically naïve, has no apparent
interest in her ancestral homeland, and is not very cautious
about what she says. One day, Darius gives Maryam a car of
her own, provided that she will provide transportation to
college for a cousin Ali (played by David Ackert), whose arrival
in the United States is imminent. Ali seeks a graduate degree
in physics and will live with the Parris family because they
are his only family; both his parents died in Iran. It is
1980, the worst possible year for an Iranian to be an immigrant
or international student. The Islamic Revolution of Ayatollah
Khomeni has gained power, and Ali is inspired by the very
conservative political and social views of the new era. As
the film proceeds, Ali faces three difficult adjustment problems.
One problem is within the family. Maryam's attempt at humor
fails to relax the climate, so she probes more deeply, discovering
that Ali believes that Darius was responsible for his own
father's death at a time when both families lived together
in Iran. Ultimately, after several anguished moments, Darius
explains to Maryam that the Shah's secret police insisted
on arresting Ali's father (Darius's brother), giving Darius
the choice of arresting everyone or just handing over his
brother to the authorities. A second adjustment problem concerns
American culture, which comes to a head when Maryam's mother
(played by Shohreg Aghdashloo) suggests that Ali chaperone
Maryam on a date with her blond boyfriend at a roller skating
rink. At the rink, Ali gets uptight when the music is too
loud, Maryam kisses her boyfriend (becoming a "whore"
in his eyes), and when Maryam's schoolfriends drink booze
and smoke pot. Ali tussles with one of the schoolfriends,
is arrested and released, and then is checked out by immigration
authorities. The third adjustment problem is political. The
time period of the film covers the events of the treatment
of the Shah at a hospital in New York, the seizure of hostages
at the American embassy, and the anti-Iranian backlash among
the American public, including shunning of the Armins at home,
at school, and even in a retail store. Maryam's family is
nonpolitical, but Ali supports the Islamic Revolution. Among
Iranians at college, Ali's views are considered extreme. At
the time when he is most confused about American culture,
he acquires a gun from a fellow Iranian student with the intention
of killing the Shah in the hospital. When he makes his way
to the same floor of the hospital where the Shah is closely
guarded, he chickens out. Then, when a demonstration occurs
at college, he shoots his gun into the air, the demonstrators
flee, Maryam and Darius come to collect him, and police are
informed of his misconduct. Next, Darius allows Ali to hide
out in their home until he can board a plane for a destination
out of the country, presumably to Canada. At the airport,
he cracks the first smile when Maryam approaches in friendship
and reminds him that they are still cousins. Directed by Ramin
Serry, the film is as much about Ali as about Maryam. As a
profound statement about the difficulties that Iranian Americans
have had to overcome, audiences of Maryam can gain new insight
into the nightmare that confronts Afghanis in the United States
today, some of whom are afraid to go out on the streets at
night. MH
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