A Separation

Movie: A Separation

Genre: drama

Synopsis: This is an Iranian film with English subtitles.  It is a tough one to describe. Nader’s wife, Simin, has left him.  She has managed to get all of the necessary paperwork for them to move to America.  Nader is balking because he does not want to leave his father, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s.  When he hires woman, Razieh, to take care of the house during the day, problems arise due to the conflict between the strict restrictions of Islam and the reality of a woman caring from a man with Alzheimer’s.  It turns out Razieh is pregnant and loses her baby following an emotional and physical conflict with Nader.  They end up in court with Nader accusing Razieh of theft and Razieh beign charged with murder for the death of her unborn child.

My two cents: I had misgivings about this movie – but actually enjoyed it.  Especially fascinating was the look it provided at the Iranian justice system.  It is also an interesting look a life in a culture that strictly adheres to the teachings of Islam.  Nobody is quite as innocent as you think and nobody is quite a guilty as you think.  My favorite character was Nader’s daughter, Termeh.  Termeh is around 12 years old.  She is very quiet and studious.  She watches what goes on around her and is trying to understand the discrepancie between what she sees and what the people involved say has happened.  She does not seem to want to face the reality that they are mostly a bunch of liars. All the while, she is also struggling with the breakup of her parents.

If you don’t mind a lot of subtitles, this movie should prove to be pretty interesting.

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