La pomme

Based on a true story and starring the very same people involved in it, this movie (by first time director Samira Makhmalbaf) tells the story of Zahra and Massoumef, twelve year old twins living on a very humble neighborhood in Tehran. Virtually imprisoned in their own home by their impoverished, ignorant, fundamentalist father and blind mother, they were freed by Iran social services after neighbors complained that the children had not bathed and could not speak. Makhmalbaf shows the twins attempting to function beyond their parents' wall after the social workers have intervened. They lack social skills to the extent of being unaware that they have to pay for food. Made when she was just 17 years old (probably with some help from her father, the acclaimed Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf) this film stands very well in the Iranian tradition of social realist, humanist cinema that came out beginning in the mid 1980s. It's so moving, it will be hard for you not to cry while watching it.

_Sib_ offers a glimpse inside Iranian society that is rarely available to Western audiences. It looks and feels like a documentary, and apparently contains actual footage of the freeing of the twin girls who had been confined to the family home for their entire lives.

The blossoming of the two girls, which begins almost the moment that they are chased from the yard by a well-meaning but rather overbearing social worker, is a joy to behold. The scene in which the recently-freed twins steal ice creams from a young street vendor stands out as an example of the comedy that lightens a film that could, given a different treatment, have been relentlessly depressing. As the narrative develops, the father may be seen as a prisoner in his own right, trapped by his traditionalist religious beliefs, his fears for his daughters' safety and by the surprisingly domineering influence of his blind wife. Ultimately, _Sib_ shows that the forced release of the twins is also a release for their father, the nominal villain of the piece.

SIB recreates the true story of twin 12-year-old daughters whose poor elderly father and blind mother kept locked away inside their small house for their entire lives without any playmates or visitors. The girls are released to experience the sweet joys and harsh dangers of the outside world. The actual family members involved in the case play themselves in the movie. On many levels, the ending is as poetic as it is disturbing.

SIB is a 1998 movie made in Iran. Aida Mohammadkhani, the lead child actress from the great Iranian film BADKONAKE SEFID, has a cameo in SIB as a girl in the playground.

"The apple" is very much from the school of Kiarostami, Makhmalbaf & Co. Some call it Iranian Cinema, and I have my background info from a Documentary on "Iranian Cinema", too. Directed by Samira Makhbalbaf, the daughter of the Makhbalhaf I was referring to before. Wait, let's start again: Samira, undoubtedly influenced by her father Mohsen, made a movie about a story which was in the papers. Her style is moralist, she has a mission: Show the 'real story' behind the news. Tell us about the perspective of the real people behind the story. The artistic means is to take the 'real people' and let them (rein)act the things, and film it. All this is done in a nice style, which shows that it was done _for_ and not against those people. In the end she has a message: the apple of eden (=see the world, don't stay at home, enjoy enlightenment, take part in buying and selling, have contact with other people...) is a scary thing, but it is not that scary as people would think. This fear makes them do such things like locking in their children for 11 years. That is the message, and it is told in a charming way. Still, personally I could not quite identify, because this is not my problem. There Abbas' messages (also told through the vehicle of 'real' people) are much closer to my life.

One of the great pleasures I get out of watching foreign films is that I get see a real culture, not tainted by the political or mythical stereotypes that we have put upon them. The Apple (a.k.a. Sib) is perfect example, as it is an Iranian made production that speaks nothing of terrorism, but only of the people.

The Apple walks a thin line between documentary and drama as it tells the story of two young girls who have never walked outside their home in all the 11 years they have been alive. As the film opens, neighbors have written a letter to the Child Welfare department, and a case worker comes to the home to take the children away. Their father, a fundamentalist muslim, and their blind mother protest this and are allowed to take them back only if they promise to treat them properly.

What is truly amazing about this film is that is was filmed by Massoumeh Naderi, a seventeen year old actress and director, and that it stars the actual children and their father. As I watched this film I wasn't aware of this fact and I recall thinking about the amateur acting, yet how these characters seemed so believable. All of this makes me want to see the film again.

The Apple is one of the few films that has left thinking long after the credits have rolled and I am sure I will be disecting it for weeks to come. A review I read after the film questioned how the American media might cover a story of two children being locked away. I, on the other hand, am pondering the films intent, (I gather it is about women's rights) and the state of affairs for the real people who live in Iran.

Wow!