Die fünfte Reaktion

Why are they subjugated to such a nasty subhuman treatment ? This is an issue which should have been addressed by the director but unfortunately there is no hint of it in the film.

To answer the previous review: I am studying this film in Women Writer's grad class and the film is adhering the the Iranian's government film laws. The Iranian government has a list of rules that film-makers must follow in order to have their films produced. Tahmineh Milani makes the most subversive cries she can against the government without breaking these rules. She is not allowed to directly attack the government so the symbolism is issued through the patriarchal representation. Hadj Safdar represents the Iranian government in the film. Tahmineh Milani is currently on house arrest for the creation of this film.

Five women are having lunch together, each a victim of the patriarchal society they live in. Four accept their fate with little more than a whine, while the fifth woman takes on the patriarchal establishment in a desperate fight to keep the custody of her children after the death of her husband. The patriarch in point is the grandfather of the children. After the death of his son, he decrees that the young widow, Fereshteh, should either submit to an almost incestuous marriage to her dead husband's youngest brother, or leave the home she has been living in and return to her parents', while he keeps the children. Fereshteh does not accept the deal and is thrown out of her home and her children are whisked away. However, she fights back by exercising her legal right and taking her children with her on a trip, hoping to find a way to leave the country and the grip of her former father-in-law. Her children want to be with their mother, and she has every moral and perhaps more significantly every legal right to their custody, however, it's the will of the patriarch that reigns supreme. The aptly cast Jamshid Hashempur, who looks every bit as scary and rigid as the inhuman system he personifies, states that "I am the law" and the law bends to his every wish. He does not need a warrant to eavesdrop on Fereshteh's phone conversations or even to jail her friends and abettors. Thanks to his gender, the law enforcement agencies are more than happy to oblige. The fact that Fereshteh is the legal guardian of her children and thus has every right to take them on a trip with her means nothing. At the end of the cat and mouse game, Fereshteh loses. She and the children are captured and she is thrown in jail. Never mind that she has not broken any laws, her guilt is implicit, as is the case with any disobedient woman. And nobody is happy, neither the children, nor the patriarch's youngest son, who for the first time dares to criticize his father over his cruelty. Even the patriarch himself seems to feel a sliver of a remorse for all the pain he has caused. The last scene of the movie is the most powerful: Fereshteh sitting on the floor of her prison cell, with her tear-stained face turned up toward the large shape of her tormentor looming above her head with his index finger raised in threat. However, her ordeal has not been all in vain: she is about to receive a new offer, that if she accepts she can return to her home with her children. While we are left to wonder what this offer would be, we feel that it would be a notch more tolerable than the one she had previously received. The patriarch, while still in full control, is nonetheless compelled to negotiate a new deal, and this is the unsung victory of the feminist movement in Iran.

There is hardly any film making nation more prolific than Iran where more or less a dozen women cinéastes are active. They are : Rakhshan Bani Etemad, Puran Derakhshandeh, Tahmineh Milani, Marva Nabili, Manijeh Hekmat, Niki Karimi, Mania Akbari, Mona Zandi, Samira Makhmalbaf, Marziyeh Meshkini etc. "The Fifth Reaction" by Tahmineh Milani offers a feminine perspective on Iranian women's problems from a controversial feminist filmmaker. The major difference between this film and those made by other women filmmakers is that while pacifist women filmmakers like Rakhshan Bani Etemad, Puran Derakhshandeh have always made it a point to depict the sad plight of Iranian women coming from economically weaker sections, Tahmineh Milani has preferred to portray the lives of affluent Iranian women. This ideology further lends credibility to the belief that it is not only poor people whose lives should be shown in films as even rich people's lives provide excellent stories for films. Thanks to such a positive stand taken by Tahmineh Milani, this trend is further explored in new films by Niki Karimi and Mania Akbari.Niki Karimi, who fortunately happens to the most recognizable face of Iranian cinema, plays the role of a young widow who is continually troubled by her father-in-law as after his son's demise,he would like to take custody of his grandchildren. This move is fiercely opposed by this young educated widow as all her modern, progressive educated friends lend her a helping hand in order to thwart any move to snatch the young ones from her.The sad thing is that these other women are also troubled by the men in their lives.On watching this film one can discern that the women shown are educated,come from affluent families. I am quite certain that all the viewers will be continually asking the question : Why are they subjugated to such a nasty subhuman treatment ? This is an issue which should have been addressed by the director but unfortunately there is no hint of it in the film. Like many other films of similar kind, "The fifth element" has its share of melodramatic elements too. I reckon this must have been planned keeping the box office aspirations in mind. Lastly, the title of the film will remain a mystery. What is the fifth reaction and even if such a reaction exists, it is a reaction to what ? May be for this reason this film provides ample food for thought.