The Suitors

The debut feature by Iranian-born NYU grad Ghasem Ebrahimian marked the emergence of an original new talent with an offbeat (to say the least) sense of humor. His story follows the emancipation of a young, subservient Moslem woman from her strict religious upbringing, after she finds herself suddenly widowed and cast adrift in New York City. Four of her dead husband's friends each begin courting her, with all due respect for ceremony but also with the unspoken expectation that she will abide by her customs and accept a new husband. How she eventually wins her independence is even more surprising than how she became a widow in the first place, after a bizarre accident involving a slaughtered lamb in a tenement bathtub and a trigger-happy SWAT team. The non-professional cast offers several natural, unrehearsed performances, and the surprise ending offers a perfect metaphor of how, in some cultures, women are regarded as only so much baggage.

It has been over a decade since I saw this film, but I have seen it at least 2 times since it was in the theaters. It begins with a comic/tragic death within the NY city Iranian community. The film shows the young widow trying to experience NY and American culture, but trapped by her lack of English, the confines of the Iranian expat community, and by her Iranian village mentality. This film does not fit into one of our usual plots (coming of age, journey to wisdom, romantic comedy, issue drama, action), but I found it had great, darkly comic moments, a great insight into an interesting subculture, and a tragic heroine worth comparing to Euripides' Medea. Like Medea, we understand her tragic situation. We also do not approve of her choices.