Ruz-egar-e ma

this is an excellent documentary about women in contemporary Iran. The documentary starts out following the enthusiastic campaigning of a bunch of young people (including the director's daughter) during the 2001 presidential elections in Iran. But then the focus shifts towards the women who wanted to run for president themselves (none of their candidacies were eventually accepted by the organising committee). The director follows one woman in particular, a single mother who is struggling (and struggling very hard) to make ends meet in a conservative society dominated by men. It's a moving portrait of the immense courage of one woman who, against all odds, never gives up fighting for a better future for her daughter and herself.

Our Times ,First-Viewing, cinema at San Francisco Film Festival, PFA Theatre in Berkeley,(Rakhshan Bani-Etemad)- DOCUMENTARY

An almost perfect portrayal of Iranian society around the time of the recent election (re-election of President Khatami in Iran). Covers many subjects, but basically is making very valid points about the disadvantages women have in Iranian Society. The documentary is very interesting unravels beautifully as the film goes on. Bani-Etemad has done great films in the past, but this documentary ranks as one of her best works, as she concentrates on the life of one woman (although she touches a lot of other aspects of Iranian society). The struggles the woman goes through is just amazingly saddening and inhumane (ahem Islamic Republic of Iran). The directors skill is great, and no wonder why she is known as Iran's best living female director and has won various awards or been nominated at festivals in Torino, Montreal, Moscow, etc.. 9/10

American audiences have become used to the "reality TV" spawned by the likes of shows like MTV Real World, MTV Road Rules, and a host of other copycats... ..but when you mix that cutting-edge reality TV style with the fervor of iranian politics & the pains of discrimination and economic hardship in modern-day iran, you get Rakhshan Etemad's explosive documentary "Our Times":

MTV-Real-World "confessionals" with hijab-wearing teenage girls telling us why they want to run for president...

traveling cameras recording live political arguments in the middle of the street...

12fps video played at 24fps to create the "sped-up" effect seen the Matrix and Equilibrium... ..and more!

go see it!

in the end, the real tragedy portrayed by this movie is that while iran's youth have plenty of political idealism and a desire to make things better for themselves, they unfortunately run up against the "brick wall" of culture, society, and politics, which serve to chip away at that idealism and in many cases blow it away completely.

congratulations to Rakhshan Etemad on a spectacular effort!

Ruz-egar-e ma (2002) [shown in the US as Our Times], is a

documentary by Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, an extraordinary Iranian female director.

This film portrays two aspects of the Iranian presidential election of 2001. Because these aspects don't overlap, the film is not cohesive. Still, each aspect is fascinating in its own right, so this dichotomy is not a fatal flaw.

The first--and less dramatic--narrative follows the director's daughter as she and her friends establish a campaign office for the incumbent President Khatami. I don't know enough about Iranian politics to know whether Khatami is a logical choice for the young, artistic people who choose to support him. Maybe he has virtues that they perceive; maybe they are comfortable with the establishment and are happy to be supporting a candidate whose re-election is apparently a forgone conclusion. However, their joy as young people-- and as women--in actually casting their ballot is delightful to witness.

The second--and darker--aspect of the film is the story of a young woman named Arezoo Bayat, who attempted to have her name placed on the ballot as a presidential candidate. It's not clear from the movie why her name was rejected. It's apparently not against the law for a woman to run for president in Iran, but no women candidates actually managed to have their names placed on the ballot.

However, Arezoo Bayat's candidacy is not her real challenge. Her challenge is finding a home for her mother and her daughter in Teheran, where single women are looked upon with distrust at best, and open hostility at worst. We follow Arezoo's search for a place to live with increasing frustration and even despair. She is an intelligent, articulate, motivated woman but--as the film makes obvious-- the odds are stacked against her in Iran in the early 21st century.

This movie gives us what appears to be an extremely honest view

of two particular lives that inform us about Iranian culture, politics,

and gender inequality. It's not an uplifting film, but it's definitely

worth seeking out and watching.