Artists' view on migration (4)

Perhaps you've seen a picture of a wall painting in Aleppo, which has become very popular in cyberspace and attracted a lot of attention. The painting means to say, "Homeland is not hotel to leave it when the service is not good. We'll stay here." Sure, this was the belief of many Syrians who stayed and defended their country, but we may find a trace of this belief in the hearts of those who do not think of migration in spite of their country's dire conditions.

Patriotism is also considered as a concept of love towards homeland and readiness for any sacrifice to safeguard the independence, sovereignty, national and cultural identity. It should be reminded that patriotism and nationalism, which are sometimes used alternatively, are quite different. Nationalism is associated with grudge against other nations, feeling haughtily of one's race, and exaggeration in national slogans and prides.

One has to adhere to moderation and logic, and above all religious principles and values, and should not lower patriotism to the level of collective and national interests. The fact is that migration is also often recognized as individual rights. And if it is based on international law, there should not be a barrier to it.

As in the cinematic works of many countries, migration has played a conspicuous role in Iran's cinema over the past few decades. In the previous episode, we said that Iran's directors made films on the issue of immigration and migrants of other countries to Iran. This time, we are going to mention some of the cinematic works that Iranian filmmakers have produced to address the emigration of Iranians from their homeland.

Iran's cinema has tried to represent a part of the Iranian society, and the challenges in the lives of people have always played a role in the cinema. Among the challenges of Iranian social life, the issue of "emigration" has also had a big share in the cinema.

Various films have been made over the past decades that can be examined by their general look at the roots, signs, and ways of representing this social issue.  Ertefa-e Past or "Low Heights" is one of the most important films in the field of emigration around the 1990s. The film, written by Asghar Farhadi and directed by Ibrahim Hatamikia, is the account of a man called Jasim who, with the dream of having a better job and a prosperous life, travels with his family and relatives by a plane. Jasim conceals his real intention even from his relatives as he tries to hijack the plane to one of the Persian Gulf littoral states

Adam Barfi or "Snowman" the first work by Davud Mirbaqeri, is an account of Abbas Khakpour, who anticipates a good future in the US and endeavors to get there. His aspiration for reaching the US is so intense that he puts make-up like a woman to marry a Turkish man and leave for the US. This film is an effort to censure migration at any cost. It tries to say that even though migration might seem inevitable, it should be done in a respectable and dignified manner.

One of the Iranian filmmakers who is famous for dealing with the issue of migration is Asghar Farhadi. Some of his works include "Low Height" (screenplay), "The Past," and "Separation of Nader from Simin". Separation of Nader from Simin is the story of the unquiet life of Nader and Simin: Simin wants to emigrate, but her husband does not want to leave Iran as his father is sick and he does not want to leave him uncared for and alone. Their only daughter has a very hard choice: either to stay with her father or to go with her mother. The end of the movie is open and we do not know what the daughter finally decides. Separation of Nader from Simin is one of the most realistic films about emigration.

Farhadi's film "The Past" is an international film about migration. Alongside the main plot of the story, we get familiar with the problems and lives of migrants from different countries and their children, who are second-generation migrants. This film shows us only a segment of the reality of migration, while also telling the viewer that we cannot abandon the past with merely relocation.

In all of these films, challenges such as work, personal problems and lifestyle, etc. have caused cinematic characters to migrate to European and American countries. But in most of the cinematic works, migration has been raised as an elementary but inefficient solution. Most of the Iranian films on migration do not have a good end. In fact, there is no utopia on the new destination. In all the films that have been screened on the theme of migration, the main characters of the story fail to get to the land of wishes.

45 films produced in the 4 decades after the victory of the Islamic Revolution (February 1979-February 2019) give a structural image of migration in the Iranian cinema. Most of the films are about the lives of migrants after leaving Iran. In these films, those who migrate from the country fail to live a happy life in the target country; hence they return to Iran with a sense of security.

To sum up, one can say that most of migrants in these films are from the middle- class or the upper class of society, while this is not so real. Migrants in most films are doctors or artists. Doctors are all male and handsome with a positive disposition. These films show that after the Islamic Revolution, and during the 8-year war imposed by the US through its puppet, Saddam of Iraq, the first migrants who decided to leave Iran were the rich physicians who are depicted in a way as if they were escaping from the country. But in reality, this did not happen and many doctors had rushed to the war fronts to render medical services to the wounded. On the one hand, Iran's cinema shows that migrants are fleeing and, on the other hand, migration is a false decision!

In general, it can be said that the view of filmmakers on migration in two thirds of the films is negative and migration is equal to a lethal blunder. Yet, as we approach the present time, this negative view of migration is reduced.

In Iran's cinema, migration is an incomplete remedy for treating social maladies, which is well represented by filmmakers.

In recent years, the issue of migration has given rise just to comedies with a focus on cheap works, and many of these works have been based on hackneyed themes and screenplays. In the meantime, what seems necessary is to reform and refine the arena of filmmaking from few directors and actors who are not the true mirror of the social ills and problems of the people.

FK/RM/SS