The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam

Writer/Director Kayvan Mashayekh has created a fine film biography of the 11th century poet/philosopher/mathematician Omar Khayyam and in doing so has presented his viewers with much food for thought. An Iranian immigrant to the US, Mashayekh set out to not only share the rich cultural heritage of his homeland, but he also found a way to make the story even more meaningful: 'The Keeper' refers to the member of Iranian families (or all families for that matter) whose role it is to preserve and share and perpetuate the history of the family, saving ties to the past to assure they never are forgotten. Oral histories these, but in Mashayekh's hands (with writing assists from Belle Avery) this story draws the viewer into an Iranian family's life of diaspora and the deep tug to remain connected its dazzling past. The film is timely to say the least, and the message is one that will benefit the audiences fortunate to see it in understanding a controversial country and its people.

Young Kamran (Adam Echahly) sits beside the bedside of his dying older brother Nader (Puya Behinaein) attentive to the stories about the family's tie to the Persian poet Omar Khayyam. The oral history is parceled out as the older brother dies and when death prevents the conclusion of the history young Kamran sneaks away to England where he encounters an elderly heiress (Vanessa Redgrave) who shares with him the handmade book of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and directs him to its source. Kamran then travels to Iran to his elderly grandfather (Dariush Iran Nezhad) who rejoices in the fact that Kamran is so committed to the family history and proceeds to share the mysteries of the hallowed ancestor.

This contemporary story serves as a reference point to depict the actual times of Omar Khayyam (Bruno Lastra), revealing the man's childhood with his commitment to learning and to his two close friends Darya (Marie Espinosa) and Hassan (Christopher Simpson). Omar pursues learning and Hassan follows soldiering: they both love Darya but she is sold into slavery. The chain of events is unraveled slowly as we see every step of Omar's education into astronomy, mathematics, philosophy and poetry. He is a Muslim who is a lover of reason and tolerance, a man who keeps his pledges of trust and honor and translates his emotions into poetry that will live far beyond his time. Persia is invaded by the Turks with Sultan Malikshah (Moritz Bleibtreu) and the sultan is wise enough to employ the gifts of Omar for his court. The ruthlessness of the times destroys much of the empire: the Christian Crusaders and the Saracens destroy the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the seeds of struggle that persist to this day are sewn. But above it all is Omar's commitment to reason and to tolerance and his power is felt both at the time of the devastation and even to this day.

The film was shot almost entirely in Uzbekistan and other exotic locations not usually seen by US audiences. The added features on the DVD include a very fine commentary by the director and by an authority on Omar Khayyam who manages to give us a terrific history lesson! There are also production comments that share some of the coincidental beauties and difficulties in shooting this film. The actors are all fine: one wishes for more depth to their characters, which should have been the province of the writers. But the overall effect of this visually stunning film is one of reverence for Iran's past and for the legacy of Omar Khayyam. It is a fine story and an equally fine history lesson.

Wow, this turned out to be quite an interesting film! Through the first part of the movie, while the characters were being developed, I found myself wondering just where the film was taking me... and how long it would take to get there. By the second half though, the script proceeds quite well and leaves you with a feeling of just the slightest bit of understanding as to how things have developed not just within the Persian region, but all over the region. Initially I was kind of hoping more for the unveiling of the Assassins and all the action that would bring (this didn't really happen, though was touched upon briefly), but what I received was a tale told in two times of how people develop and affect those around themselves, as well as, within themselves. Don't get me wrong, the film isn't all philosophy, but it does weave a tale worth telling... if you pay attention.

I really enjoyed the film once I came to the realization that it was not going to be action-packed, the tale itself was well worth it!

I went to see this film only to support the independent industry, but ended up truly enjoying the movie. The characters are memorable, the story itself is wonderful, the acting is superb, and the music is just the icing on the cake. This movie makes me want to connect with others, and apparently the other viewers felt the same as we were all discussing the message afterwords.

For a film of this magnitude to be someone's first film is truly astonishing. Kayvan has amazing talent and yet is humble.

...the most important thing your elders can give you is their words, their stories, pieces of their hearts.

Are you going to be a Keeper?

The movie begins with this long haired, dorky kid whose an Iranian-American in search of his ancestry -- or something. His older brother gets hospitalized and begins relaying the story of Omar Khayyam to the kid. Surprise though! He dies about half way through and so the kid makes a trek to London to hook up with some old lady who has a copy of the book -- because no one else on earth could possibly possess such a thing.

Lady tucks in the kid in front of the fireplace. Kid somehow ends up in Iran talking to his grandfather with a horrible, indistinguishable accent (by the way, everyone has a horrible accent in this movie) who completes the story for him.

Meanwhile, the actual tale and life of the man gets lost between all this garbage. Is it there to fill time? I have no idea. I was tempted to stop the film after about 15 minutes but decided to see it through to the end. Glad I didn't pay for it.

The only thing amusing about this is that the Sultan looks sort of like Steve O, but probably doesn't do anything demented involving staplers. This pic is bad even by after school special standards.

Pick up a translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and read it instead. Nice movie for 5 year olds -- I guess. Creators were no doubt well intentioned, but when you're dealing with a man of this stature there's no room for error, otherwise it's just flat out disrespect. If you are a lover of Islamic culture and history just avoid this.

Hmm -- and some of these overly positive reviews seem mighty suspect, especially when a couple are structured identically.

Good film, but left me feeling unsatiated. One main criticism: NOT A SINGLE VERSE OF KHAYYAM'S POETRY READ OUT IN THE NATIVE PERSIAN LANGUAGE!!! It would not have cost a single penny and would have given so much more weight to the character of Khayyam. Other more minor criticisms: the dialogue was very elementary and the depth of the characters wasn't allowed to be fully developed (perhaps constrained due to 90 min. length of the film)... I didn't feel the depth of the characters, particularly, Khayyam's character. This man was a genius, but came across as a very simple man, at times babbling words in English (again, Fitzgerald's version of the more authentic and melodious Persian original) that wouldn't make much sense to the average viewer. The reason no Persian verse was spoken in this movie may have been because Khayyam was played by a non-Persian, Bruno (though he may be multilingual and talented), who probably hasn't ever read Khayyam in its original form (conjecture on my part). Why subtitle the characters living in U.S. (the Iranian-Americans) and not subtitle Khayyam who never spoke a word of English in his life?? I felt this really detracted from the character of Khayyam and his story. The best actor in the film, really, was Redgrave. I don't think the others carried the weight of those they were trying to emulate, particularly, Khayyam and Malek Shah. Overall, though, the movie is not bad. I think for this being his first film, Mashayekh deserves a good acknowledgment! He is obviously quite talented and I hope to see more films from him. In this film, though, in trying to cover too much and such an important subject (the Legend of Omar Khayyam), and trying to anglicize the project too much for a western audience (perhaps due to financial restrictions), that, in the end, Mashayekh perhaps lost what he was trying to "Keep" in the first place.