IFFK 2009 Final Day: Watching Films As If There Is No Tomorrow

It was the last day of IFFK 2009. I watched films as if there is no tomorrow. I saw Twenty (an Iranian film directed by Abdolreza Kahani), Divine (directed by the Mexican master Arturo Ripstein), and Man by the Shore (directed by the Haitian virtuoso Raoul Peck). I opted to watch the last two films because I have not watched any of the films of the retrospectives of Arturo Ripstein and Raoul Peck. Now I realize that it was a bad mistake.

Twenty

It is a typical Iranian film, much like the films of, say, Majid Majidi. The film boasts of many familiar Iranian qualities: a simple theme, straightforward and flawless narration, and characters grappling with their inherent weaknesses and surviving with their inherent strengths.

The main character of the film is the owner of a hall, which is used for hosting marriage functions and functions related to funerals. The opening scenes establish that he is having psychiatric problems, as they are getting orders of funeral functions only. The psychiatrist advises him to sell the hall. The next day one person comes along with a real estate agent to have a look at the hall. The owner then announces the staff that he would be selling the hall within 20 days. The rest of the story is about how the decision affects the staff members, five of them, and how they react to it.

Divine

This is a black comedy by the renowned Mexican director Arturo Ripstein. He made the film to look like a celluloid spoof of epic Hollywood films. The film narrates the events in the camp of a Christian sect, called New Jerusalem. The sect is headed by a virgin who is to bear the god’s son. The present head is an old woman who has many health issues. Troubles start when she selects a young new comer as her successor. She starts to give strange orders.

The film’s objects of sarcasm are wide ranged: from Christian beliefs to Hollywood epic films. The most memorable scene of the movie is undoubtedly its climax.

Man by the Shore

This is a beautifully conceived political movie – the story is told the memories of a girl, whose parents went missing after a coup in Haiti. I have to say that this is a fitting finale to any film festival. The film has many things in common with the first film I watched in this festival: The Last Supper. Both show fights of ordinary people against the mighty.