Foreign film recommendation: The Lizard

[Lydia Leftcoast]

With Iran being in the news so much lately, I thought it would be interesting to go see a comedy from Iran.

Now that country has produced some fine films, but also some really tedious ones. I recall one in particular (have blanked out its name) that chronicled every dull moment of life on a dairy farm in the middle of nowhere.

This film is about Reza the Lizard, a ne'er-do-well thief who seems to have fallen under Iran's equivalent of the three strikes law. (He reminded me of "Angel" on The Rockford Files.) The warden has it in for him and keeps throwing him in solitary on the slightest of pretexts (and in the custody of a guard who looks remarkably like Spike Lee, but anyway...)

After Reza is injured in a fight, he is sent to an outside hospital, and due to overcrowding, he ends up sharing a room with a mullah. He steals the mullah's clothes and heads for a village near the border where a friend of a friend will forge a passport for him.

As luck would have it, the village is expecting a new mullah, and when Reza shows up, they assume that he's it. The trouble is, he's not at all religious and has a terrible time faking the role. Meanwhile, the cops are after him, and the man who is supposed to have forged a passport for him is in jail.

There are some very funny scenes and lines in this film, and judging from the reaction of the audience (about 1/3 Iranians), there were parts that were much funnier if you knew Islam and Iranian culture.

The Lizard managed to be the highest-grossing film of all time in Iran, despite being withdrawn by the government after the authorities realized how subversive it is. You can see why a theocratic government would object to a film that spoofs their prime "enforcers," and why it would therefore appeal to a lot of Iranians.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. Has anyone else seen this?

:shrug:

[A-Schwarzenegger]

2. I'll certainly check it out.

We've been watching foreign films almost exclusively anymore,
got so fed up with American crap.

My recommendation for a foreign film (French-Beligian): The Son.

I can't do any better justice than Ebert did:

http://www.ebertfest.com/six/son_review.htm

although don't read
the whole thing because there are spoilers, although "spoilers"
doesnt really apply to a film like this. We rented it, I watched
it by myself because the wife wasnt in the mood, then I told her
she had to see it and I watched it again the next night and appreciated
it even more the second time. It won some awards or something, too.