“Neighbors”; Empty of love, separate from history

According to Fars News Agency, the series “Jeeran” directed by Hassan Fathi, which was made on the home theater network, has been broadcast in 5 episodes so far and has not been able to attract the attention of critics. Farhikhtegan newspaper wrote about this: “Jeeran” ends with the caption of the first part. This can be said at least and with certainty about these five published episodes. The series is the story of a village girl who is in love with another’s lover, but the king loses her heart at a glance and the girl is forced to marry him in tragic circumstances (which, of course, she does not understand at all).

These two lines are all that “Jeeran” gives to the audience in five 50-minute episodes. A repetitive and basically similar story of “Shahrzad” that the audience does not wait to understand until the end of the first part and in the first half, after seeing the relationship between Khadijeh Tajrishi (Jeeran) and Siavash, her father’s student, reads the whole story. The next four parts do not work from this point. The series apparently narrates a historical love. However, the filmmaker’s problem in “Neighbors” is neither love nor history. “Neighbor” can not make a person and then transfer and transfer human feelings and relationships, nor has he succeeded in creating space and narration of life and events about 150 years ago. The image that the 250-minute series gives of the Shah, Mahdalia, the harem, the rulers and all the court apparatus is very typical and clichéd, and in some places even exaggerated. Most of all about the inner life of the king, his mother and his wives.

The Qajar woman in “Neighbors” has been portrayed as a whole, in the modern appearance, the same clichés that we have in mind and nothing more. The filmmaker does not try to be close to the audience. The romantic relationship, whether between Khadijeh and Siavash or in Nasser al-Din Shah’s love for his neighbors, is unimaginable and unreal. Remember the scene of the Shah reciting poetry for Khadijeh in the first meeting or the scene of Khadijeh and Siavash saying goodbye. Dialogues and behaviors seem artificial, sentimental and unbelievable. The same is true in other relationships. The scene of Masoumeh’s baby’s death, apart from being predictable from her first encounter with Siavash, is a major tragedy!

The moment of death and the reaction of Siavash and Soraya, completely against the moment, comes out of the water and looks ridiculous and funny. The scene of Khadijeh’s suicide is also artificial and unbelievable. Apart from the fact that the result is clear and Khadijeh gives up, it is a father-daughter relationship in which she has to hit the audience and make sense. A relationship that neither happened before nor in those moments is like reality. Everything is fake and goes up in the air in an instant. If the audience has an active imagination, they will hear the cut sound after a girl’s suicide sequence in front of her father and brother is over and everything is over!

The historical dimension of the series has nothing to offer. History seems to be essentially a patchwork of the story. It is redundant and useless. It does not move the story forward, it does not change it, it does not even remain in the mind. Sections related to the state and government in the court, in at least the first five parts, can be essentially omitted. They do not create space, nor can they even add historical information to the audience. In contrast, I remembered Asghar Abdullahi. Writer and screenwriter who narrates history artistically and readably in the collection of short stories “Hamlet in the Rain” after theatrical and theatrical narrative in the 1920s, which is mainly the author’s problem; The life of an Iranian man in those years. A history that does not provide information creates an atmosphere and is remembered through the theater narrative of those days.

“Neighbors” have not been saved even by games. Everyone is far from believing. Prinaz Izadiaresh is also artificial and is miles away from her good games. The series, which was finally aired after a delay in the release date and rumors of a ban, and the audience has to pay a subscription fee of about 100,000 tomans to watch its four episodes in a month, after 250 minutes, at best, has no more than two episodes to say. The series basically relies on their costumes and colors and their glamor. Full of long views of the movement of carts, horses, and people who are bored and spend time in the space-building. On this account, “Jeeran” is disrespectful to the audience and ignoring him.

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