About the movie “Girls ‘Group” / Girls’ Handcuffs

Theater News Base: Given that in recent years we have witnessed a decline in the production of sacred defense films, and it seems that there was no will to use all the capacities of this inexhaustible source properly, the production of any work in this genre should be considered a trophy. The small presence of this genre in the 40th Fajr Film Festival fully shows itself. “Dakht Dokhtaran”, the second film made by Munir Qidi after “Villas”, is one of the films in this year’s Simorgh Soda section. The film is a joint production of the Farabi Foundation and the Soura Cinema Organization and deals with the early days of the imposed war and the 34-day resistance of the people of Khorramshahr. The title of the film and the cast show that, like the villas, we are dealing with a female work of war. The presence of Niki Karimi, Fereshteh Hosseini, Panthea Panahiha and Hoda Zineh Al-Abedin as the main actors in this film is almost similar to the cast of Qidi’s first film. The story of the film narrates the adventures of September 1980.

If in the sixties Iranian cinema either ignored the role of women in the sacred defense in films such as “Belmi Towards the Beach” or remained in the most stereotypical state of existence like “Liberation” as a nurse, but in the following decades quietly writing stories and books As the situation changed, so did the role of women in the sacred defense of the cinema. Ebrahim Hatamikia and Rasoul Mollaqlipour tried to make up for their lack of work in this field in the sixties in the works of later years, and from then on, the character of a woman familiar with the sacred defense became one of the pillars of their films.

One of the questions and ambiguities in the field of women and cinema is how much attention has been paid to the representation of the role of women in the sacred defense cinema to the fact of the presence of women in the sacred defense and her role as a genuine actor? How much of what is reflected is made and paid for by the minds of the writers, and how much of it is based on documentation? Studies show that the true picture of women’s activities behind the scenes, on the battlefield, and the role of women after the war has not yet been fully presented. Is. A neutral and low-risk image that, in the best case, replaces the wounds of the warriors, and in other cases, is the wife of the warrior and raises the children, and in its most unusual state, is an opportunity for the earthly love of the warriors.

However, according to the best-selling books that have been published in the last decade, women have played a significant role in the struggle in various areas of the sacred defense, apart from their presence behind the scenes and in the kitchen and their nursing identity. We saw this different presence in works such as “Hiva”, “Land of the Sun”, “Sheida”, “Days of Life”, “Survivors” and “Alchemy”, and the examples that were mentioned reflected only a small part of this effective and glorious presence. . In these films, characters were created that bore a strong and correct resemblance to real examples from the time of the Holy Defense.

In such a situation, and due to the good history and, of course, a little restraint, the audience has a high motivation to watch a movie like “Girls’ Group”. The film, which is known to have been made with great effort and cost, is almost on the list of “great productions” of Iranian cinema. Watching Nikki Karimi with makeup and appearance that is not similar to most of her films, as well as the presence of Panthea Panahi with the appearance that we saw in Hatami Kia’s “Exit”, along with a different and modern image of Fereshteh Hosseini in the heart of Khorramshahr, And accompany the girls, to whom Huda Zina al-Abedin will be added as a medical student, and will provide them with a large house as a “headquarters.” This square, which turns into a pentagon with the presence of Asgari oyster, wants to entertain the audience on a boat and spin around an ocean without having a specific destination.

The slow pace and long duration of the film also prevent the director from achieving this initial goal. “Girls”, despite the presence of three names as the author and also the presence of a final rewrite, still and deeply suffers from the weakness of the script; A screenplay based on several books and an attempt to bring together a selection of the most attractive characters and situations in those books, but at best it can produce and distribute a few interesting one-minute videos for Instagram and as a movie, it does not have much appeal. Excessive reliance on shootings and corpses in images and beyond the importance of technique has prevented the necessary attention to the story and narrative. It is difficult to define a one-line story for this film, and it is more difficult to communicate with the characters of the group of girls; Characters who have neither the characteristics of Iranian women nor the women present in the sacred defense. If in “Sheida” or “Hiva” the audience has a deep connection with the female character of the film, it is because of the correct knowledge of this type of people and presenting a correct and accurate image of them.

Women who are in the girls’ group but stay on the surface and their story is either incomplete or not told completely. Women who can be in any war and period and spices such as religious conflicts between “Wajih” played by Panthea Panahi and “Simin” played by Fereshteh Hosseini or romance undecided and suddenly between Simin and the boy played by Hossein Soleimani could not be attractive. Stories help. These characters do not seem to have an accurate identity card, and each is a piece of a story that is not put together properly.

Nikki Karimi’s mediocre and unbelievable play, which is sometimes even forgotten, has an accent and the abandoned and undecided character of Ms. Doctor and those green birds without the logic of their presence and the distorted and incomplete narrative of a vague relationship that ends with a head-to-head dialogue. The repetition of some scenes of “Abu Ghraib Strait” is one of the ambiguities and negative aspects of the girls.

Despite the power of the girls in the technical and visual aspects, one of the film’s major problems is the lack of distinction between narrative in the context of war and narrative in the context of sacred defense. If we remove the background images of Imam and Shahid Beheshti and some Germans of that time from the film, can he alone narrate a film with the atmosphere of holy defense? Degrading the deep concepts of female self-sacrifice and courage, sacred defense and human behavior to personal concerns and revenge and personal emotional relationships is one of the pests of the girls’ view and story. Maybe that’s why the film does not go beyond a personal concern and at best turns into a relatively exciting conflict between two warring groups.

The girls’ group will probably win prizes in several sections at the festival, and at the box office it may be seen to some extent with the help of some arrangements, but the valuable point is that in a situation where most investors and directors prefer to go for simple, comfortable and money-making subjects A group has entered the field to portray the efforts and sacrifices of the early days of the Holy Defense and to talk about the role and presence of women and girls. This effort, of course, has its weaknesses, but in general, and perhaps with a re-editing and acceleration of its rhythm, some of the shortcomings of this film can be eliminated or covered up.

The girls’ group could create and perpetuate heroic women in Iranian cinema, who would be both a good role model for today’s society and an accurate reflection of the sacrifices of the women and girls of this land. Trying to unreasonably modernize the characters and dialogues and distance themselves from the documentary nature of such films in sensitive sequences has not been able to contribute to the visual richness and narrative of the film.

Although Ghaidi’s second work could not replicate the success of his first film, it shows that he has grown in terms of technique and cinema and has something to say. Creating a balance between technique and storytelling can perhaps make Zidi succeed in making her third work, and a change of genre can, of course, bring her abilities to the forefront as a female filmmaker who is also the only female director of the period.