The most famous clerics of Iranian cinema / a different cleric who was “the day of the riot” + film

Fars News Agency – Cinema Group: Four decades have passed since the Islamic Revolution, and one can have a relative assessment of the flow of Iranian cinema in the fields of social, sacred defense, comedy, etc., by looking at the films made by directors during these years. In the meantime, there are areas of cinema that, although some concerned filmmakers have found that they have entered with previous experience or trial and error, have not evolved due to problems and limitations. Making films centered on the “clergy” is one of these areas that, according to some experts, has not yet reached the necessary maturity, apart from a few prominent cinematic works. The camera of Iranian cinema needs to stand by the clergy with a new perspective and newer angles, enter seminaries and address the concerns of this segment of society.

A review of clergy-oriented movies can show that for some who believe that cinema has gone to stereotypes and has nothing new to say, there is still a small part of the concerns and unspoken concerns of the clergy.

* The first accompaniment of a cinema with a student in “Under the Moonlight”

Reza Mirkarimi was the director of Iranian cinema, which led the clergy to enter the post-revolutionary cinema as a character and a pivotal role, and he went on to make a film in which the character is a student. In this sense, “Under the Moonlight” is the first film after the revolution to accompany the camera with a seminary student and tells a story that in its time had a progressive and intellectual look at a student who was hesitant to wear a turban. , Because he thinks that for some reason he does not deserve to wear the clothes of a clergyman.

Along with Mirkarimi, one cannot ignore the prominent and important presence of Manouchehr Mohammadi, the producer of this film, who later continued this path and made other films about the clergy.

However, “Under the Moonlight” was Mirkarimi’s second film in 1979, which was met with mixed reactions at the time of its release. “Hossein Parstar” played the main role in this film and Mehran Rajabi, Shaghayegh Dehghan and Fereshteh Sadr Arfaei were the other actors in this film. The story of this film attracted a lot of attention inside and even in foreign festivals such as Cannes.

* “The Lizard”, the most controversial film about the clergy

In Rouhani-oriented cinema, Manouchehr Mohammadi has a key role as one of the supporting supporters of this cinematic current. A few years later, in collaboration with Kamal Tabrizi, he undertook the production of one of the most enduring films in Iranian cinema; “The Lizard” starring Parviz Parastavi and in a humorous and comedic atmosphere that is still considered in the category of the best compositions of Kamal Tabrizi; A film that drew many audiences to cinemas and critics wrote about it in various analyzes and critiques, and of course, the different reactions, criticisms and margins of seminary students, experts and even prominent cinematic and cultural figures towards this film were interesting. .
“The Lizard”, with a screenplay by Peyman Ghasemkhani, is the story of a thief who disguises himself as a clergyman in order to escape, and although he distinguishes between a real cleric and a character who abuses this costume and is more of a “clergyman”, He also directed harsh criticism; To the extent that it caused the film to have a limited release and also faced problems such as confiscation. However, in the same film, which also met with sharp reactions and margins, the real spiritual character of the film was played by Shahrokh Frootnian; A clergyman who reads excerpts from The Little Prince for Swallowing and demonstrates the characteristics of an ideal clergyman in the same brief minutes.

Almost at the same time as the production and release of “The Lizard”, another film was made focusing on a cleric named “He”, which was directed by Ghanbari and directed by Habibaullah Kassahsaz. A film that was less seen by the general public and tried to portray the concerns and problems of a concerned student and cleric from a cinematic point of view. Rouhani Film has a difficult life in a village and he is offered to work as the imam of the village, and Rouhani also tries to take care of the people’s problems.

* Parsa Piroozfar was asked for “time to pick walnuts”

During the same years, several other films were made in which the clergy were present in their main and minor roles, such as the presence of Afshin Hashemi in a minor but important role in the film “Too Far, Too Close” directed by Seyed Reza Mirkarimi. The film also has an impact. A cleric who does manual labor and has a Mashhadi accent and of course has short sequences in Mirkarimi’s film.

In the same years, Parsa Piruzfar also played the role of a young student in the movie “Time to Pick Walnuts” directed by Iraj Emami, a movie that was banned for years and then made its way to the home theater network. The young student in the film falls in love with a girl whose story is taken from a Tajik writer.
The 1980s almost paved the way for several films on the subject of the clergy, with several figures taking on the role of clergy. “Martyrdom for God” was another of these films in which Mohsen Tanabandeh played the central role of Rouhani, and for this role, he also received the Crystal Simorgh for his supporting role. The film was directed by Alireza Amini and co-written by Amini and Tanabandeh. Paying attention to the details of the role that Tanabandeh played, as a student character who sometimes uses satire and has a Mashhadi accent, was able to attract the attention of critics to play this role.

* “Gold and copper”, students are like other people

A year after this film, Manouchehr Mohammadi made the production of “Gold and Copper”, which was released in 1987, and it can be said that he completed this producer in a triple way in making spiritual films. The film was directed by Homayoun Asadian and produced by Behrouz Shoaib and Negar Javaherian. “Gold and Copper” also shows other aspects of a spiritual character that undergoes changes throughout the film. According to Mohammadi, the change is only supposed to indicate that the students are like the rest of the people, and he believes: “They are like everyone else, they have doubts and problems in life, but at the same time they can be lovable people.”

The script of “Gold and Copper” was written by Hamed Mohammadi, the son of Manouchehr Mohammadi, who a few years later made his first film with this axis; “Angels Come Together” is a film that was produced in 1992 and in which Javad Ezzati played the role of a young student who has a difficult life and in the midst of these problems he has several children.

* From Hamed Behdad to Akbari Abdi in the role of cleric

In the late 80’s, Hamed Behdad also joined the cast of actors who experienced the role of Rouhani. In 1987, Behdad played the role of a cleric in the film “Alchemy and Soil” directed by Abbas Rafie. The film takes place in the year 1957 and is somehow related to the Islamic Revolution, but the story and characterization of the film and even the presence of Hamed Behdad, who was supposed to show different characteristics of a cleric and break behavioral stereotypes, did not have much success.

The advent of the 1990s made films a more public space, with actors playing the role of a cleric in a variety of roles. Mohammad Reza Sharifinia in Behrouz Afkhami’s “Child of the Morning”, Pejman Bazghi in Mehrdad Ghaffarzadeh’s “Meeting Day”, Mohammad Reza Forootan in Kamal Tabrizi in “Sensitive Class” and Ali Ghorbanzadeh in Saman Moghadam in “Amber Whale” are among the actors who They played roles and each of them played sequences in these films.

Masoud Dehnamaki’s “Scandal” is one of the films of this decade that made Akbar Abdi a mystical cleric. In this film, Dehnamaki tried to redefine the character of the clergy in relation to society and to establish a closer relationship between society and this class.

Akbar Abdi’s performance in “Scandal” is one of its features, who had previously collaborated with this director in the “Dismissals” trilogy, and now in “Scandal” he had shown other aspects of his ability.

“Scandal 1” was confronted with comments even before its production and release, which caused Deh Namaki to say in an explanation of his film: “Love and romance, not the ‘forbidden fruit’, is a completely independent story, but speculations about the film are made and judgments are made about the film, which is completely wrong.”

However, the screening of this film at the Fajr Film Festival and its screening, like other Dehnamaki films, was met with various margins and reactions from film personalities and critics.

Akbar Abdi, Mohammad Reza Sharifinia and Elnaz Shakerdoust starred in the film. A few years later, Dehnamaki made “Scandal 2” in which she used the presence of Sahar Qureshi as the main actress in the film, which also caused a lot of criticism.

* Behrouz Shoaib’s different image of the clergy

Rouhani-oriented films In the 1990s, not only did Rouhani experience a more general atmosphere, but Rouhani became more involved in comedy films and even deconstructed. The deconstructions, which, of course, did not add much value to the film’s content and concerns, and were mostly new situations in which the spiritual character was placed. For example, the poster of the movie “Paradise” directed by Ali Atshani, in which Mehran Rajabi is taking a selfie as the head of a seminary, and behind him are students and a foreign woman, can be seen in this space.
At last year’s Fajr Film Festival, Behrouz Shoaib was present with a film entitled “Day of the Riot” starring Babak Hamidian. Now, with the addition of other tracks, this film has become a three-part series that is being broadcast from Namava.

Behrouz Shoaib already has the experience of directing a TV series called “The Curtain” on the subject of the clergy, as well as the experience of playing the role of a clergyman in the film “Gold and Copper”. Babak Hamidian is also an actor who has played different and challenging roles such as Shahid Asghar Vesali in the film “Ch” by Ebrahim Hatamikia, two roles in Obaidullah Ibn Ziad and Yazid Ibn Mu’awiya in the film “Resurrection” by Ahmad Reza Darvish, Murad Safarkhani in “Girls Do Not Cry” by Pouran Derakhshandeh. Profiles of Iraj Karimi and many other maps Has played well. With this in mind, we have to wait and see if the audience likes the combination of Behrouz Shoaib’s directing and Babak Hamidian in a film on the subject of clergy?

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