Nostalgia

These remind me of hot summer after noons going to movies

Did some body called rape, where, where.  2 minutes of movie clips and that’s why the old regime fell. Give me a brake, people were making a living by making these movies. I guess the reason IRI is able to stay in power is because they do all their actually raping behind close doors. Holllywood must be the capital of rapes.They were fun movies to go to kill time and stay cool.

Very Interesting

I had never seen these. They are kind of chauvinistic but I still think its cool 

Mehrban Jaan you are Fetching "La Vache" again ... ;0)

Valah Beh Khoda ! Vel Kohn ...

Fetchez La Vache:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FJVAcvVcPQ

Hee Hee ... Just Kidding ! ;0)

But More seriously It is true that Censorship did exist under the Shah for specific films particularly those with a Left Wing Leaning.

Kubrick's Path of Glory made in 1957 was banned in France until ... 1975:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DHhTjiVlF4

The Reason being that it was attacking too many taboos regarding the French Army Officers during WWI. France was still trying to heal the stigmas of WWII and the fact that one of France brightest Military officers of WWI that is Marshall Petain accepted to Collaborate with the Nazis was already a hard fact to come to terms with, Kubricks remarkeable Film was to once again open another scar that of the cold blooded execution of French Soldiers who had deserted for refusing to be slaughtered in what was clearly a suicidal situation due to the incompetence of the French Military High Command.

Neither PResident De Gaulle ( who had fought Petain and liberated France from the Nazi Occupation) nor his successor George Pompidou could accept to see the reputation of the French Army be damaged once again particularly in regard to a War where FRance had been the Victor over the Bad Germans ...

As for Kubrick's Clockwork Orange it created such a series of controversies after being screened for the first 6 weeks that Kubrick was so offended by the outrage that he decided not only to remove the movie from the British Screens but to ban it from ever being screened in Great Britain. Where as it could be seen anywhere else in the world.

Clockwork Orange Trailer:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7fO3bzPeBQ&feature...

The Film's controversy in the UK was generated by a series of reasons mainly because in Great Britain of the 1970's homosexuality was socially discriminated and the act of Sodomy both of which are more or less suggested in the movie were Illegal acts in a still very morally conservative Great Britain.

Ironically The Film only became available to viewers at large in England after it's DVD of the uncut version Release on 4 July 2001.

Ideally Censorship should not exist and personally I am against any form of censorship but allowing ideological and political debates triggered by a work of Art or Movie in a country like Iran in those days was easier said than done.

Most Artists in those days including Mehrjui were closet Communists, maybe for Fashionable reasons. They were Educated in America but Closet Communist nevertheless. Today they may claim the contrary but to be a genuine Artist in society you need to be a Rebel and I should say it is healthy to have such a Rebellious attitude because Artists wish to change the world for the better. Do they actually achieve that is another debate ...

But in a country like Pahlavi Iran how could one be a Rebel and Not lean to the Left ?

I don't endorse the censorship that took place back in those days but I would be dishonest if I would say that I don't Understand why some films were censored nor that I would not have approved it in those days knowing the ideological debates that some films or Works of Art could have triggered in a country fearful of a Soviet highjacking just as they did back in 1946 in Azerbaijdan:

Video: Soviet Propaganda Film - Iran, Tabriz 1945-46

Diplomatic History: Russian Roulette "Iran-Soviet Peace and Cooperation Pact" 1970's

Often dictatorships need to create artificial enemies because "Fear" helps unify a nation around it's leadership. The Shah's dictatorship ( however mild in comparison to so many other dictatorships of the time be them in it's immediate neigbourhoods or in comparison to South American Dictarorships like Pinochet's Chili or Spain's Franco) in this regard was no exception.

But the fact remains that an IDEOLOGICAL Enemy DID EXIST in certain Iranian circles and WAS a Threat to Iran ( As it Was to Afghanistan invaded in 1979-1989 by Soviet Troops) and that was to a large extent the hardline Communist including the Marxist Islami ( the term which was ridiculed by many who considered the Shah had become a paranoiac):

(NOTE: too bad the video below in which the Shah talks about this unholy alliance is no more available)

THE RED AND THE BLACK: Shah of Iran denounces the Unholy Alliance (1977/78)

One doesn't need to be necessarily an Anti Left Wing or Anti Communist To acknowledge that this threat at the time WAS GENUINE!

That the Shah or his regime did not particularly encourage political democracy in taking root in Iran because they favored what they deemed wrongly as a guarantee for Stability and fewer headaches in running the country according to their understanding is also a fact. But in retrospect as much as it may seem cynical it was also understandable.

I don't know what lesson can historians or politicians take from the Fatal outcome though ?

When you censor a person for his ideas, or work of Art, writings etc you naturally are being unjust and injustice leads to a form of retaliation at some point. So Censorship even at a mild level like under the Shah was in itself counterproductive.

But given the historical and social/political context of the time could it have been otherwise ? I have to admit I don't have the answer ...

Could it have been handled differently so as to avoid censorship or to see a country's intelligenstia go astray and seek answers in far more destructive ideologies such as Islamism in the years that followed ? Probably ...

But then if someone has the answer then they should advise such regimes like Tunisia today or Egypt not to repeat the same pattern as Pahlavi Iran ... otherwise they may in turn experience a similar sad fate.

If delivering democracy and Free Speech was so easy then why aren't they implemented in Pakistan, Egypt, Syria or Morroco as they are in France, the UK, Germany or the United States ?

Surely the leaders in these countries are not stupid nor less intelligent than us ? I'm not even sure if their leaders are as power hungry despite being dictators ... I simply think that democracy is not something that can be decreed from the Top of the Hierarchy within a dictatorial or authoritarian system without risking some form of Political suicide.

Not everyone has the desire nor courage for Martrydom:

Khosro Golsorkhi :

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=buTlBLGdUfo

And if they Did would that be the solution ? I'd like to think Not and that there may have been a more constructive approach had such individuals been more flexible. But then again everyone is entitled to his own life including to sacrificing it for a cause tor idealogy they deem just ...

In the end of the day I guess Democracy cannot be simply decreed from Head of the Political hierarchy ( The Head of State) to the bottom (that it the People) as the Shah did try to do at the time of the White Revolution:

pictory: Political Pluralism and Freedom of Press in Pahlavi Iran (1961)

Freedom and Democracy can only be won by the People. Either through Revolution ( I like to call it Restoration ) or Reforming the Political System.

One way or the other it cannot be obtained without some sort of sacrifice.

In the case of the Velevet Revolutions in Eastern Europe From Poland to the ex-Soviet Union it was more or less bloodless.

The Reason Velvet Revolutions often take the shape of civil dissobedience and non violent actions is precisely due to the fact that the people have more or less experienced violent transformations like Revolutions. They know the price paid by the majority for the extremist views of the minor few.

From that perspective I think today's Green Movement and beyond responds to the same criteria of a mature or at least much more aware generation and people than those who brought about the DEVOLUTION of '79 and all the Collateral Damages which could have been avoided if we had been more patient and mature in our demands at the time.

Mostafa Tajzadeh: Former IRI deputy Interior Minister's speech a month before June 2009 elections ( Arrested Since) about the Social Freedoms under the Shah as opposed to Political freedoms:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzqJY8JjTJM&feature=player_embedded

As for Gav it was initially censored but released once the controversy broke out and particularly thanks to the Shahbanou's intervention who was touched by the movie's symbolism.

And quite honestly I personally feel ( but it is my personal and biaised opinion) that compared to the above examples such as Path's of Glory or Clockwork Orange, Mehrjui's film was Not such a Threat to the Regime or the Establishment or Iranian social order of the time ...

I think Daie Jaan Napoleon was Far more threatening ;0)

Mehrjui like all filmmakers loves Bullshitting and is simply capitalizing on the controversy to claim more due and critical acclaim for his movie ...

Which does not mean that his film is not a masterpiece or that it does not make some very accurate statements in it's own right.

My Humble Opinion,

DK

Related Blog:

MON CINEMA: Dariush Mehrjui discusses "THE COW"

They asked an old woman

What do you regret the most in life? She replied: I didn`t have enough sex.

I think If we look at the life everyone has on this planet we would note that sex and nudity is paralell with our age and the process of aging.

When we are born we are naked, but we look funny, cute and not developed. and that is why we are cute and wierdly shaped. some parts are bigger and "some" are just there. They will find their function later in life.

As we grow to thiner, leaner and more defined body and parts and muscles, we find one another attractive. That is why little girls look at thier mothers or models or a bride and wish  they were just as beautiful as them!

Because men and women when at pubrity are sexy and attracted to each other(with the exception of homosexuals which are attracted to the same sex). so the young girls try to show parts of their body to the opposit sex and the young men try to impress them with power and masculanity.

My point is, as we get older our body goes through changes, we grow hair in parts of our body that were not visible, or lose our leanness and gain weight, less attractive in both sexes. I believe as we lose those "fresh" and "defined" qualities, then our perception also forms a new one and this is when we start getting more serious and more critical of nudity!

imagine if we could always stay the same shape and sexy and beautiful, would we still be as critical of nudity?

I believe our thinking and the way we look at the world changes as we age. we define our world through the age we are. perhaps that is why they say "tunning in" in relation to "news". Because we are tunning in and try to relate and that is when we form a perception of the world we are living in.

Plus Religin and superstitious and so many cultural and belief systems are factor in our perception and understanding of sex.

But I like nudity when it is tasteful and objective. 

TO DK

lol....I must agree with you. your comment is funny and yet sadly truthful.

but it made me laugh.

On the positive note

Films that show human body and kiss, which is taboo in the East, can be beneficial as people become relax towards simple things as such. However, the Iranians (similar in doing everything else) don't realize the steps, plans and ideas to move forward gradually. They do it kharaki, like revolution!

It's always either or. I like to see films like this exist, it shows social growth (if there are other films that can freely compete on different level and subjects). 

To Iranian film maker of the '70's, a good film and drama meant knife and murder. Almost all the movies had this one ingredient in common. Generally dark meant substance.

Exploitive, here's why:

Cheap directing!

comment on some of the comments that I've read

The whole point of the rape scene is to show the brutality of it.... Very clearly the "empathy angle" lies with the woman.

Very brave movie to have been made in the early seventies, (the title is a dead give-away), whether in Iran or elsewhere, portraying the plight of millions of women worldwide.

"I still have my own teeth. 'Just can't remember where I've put them."

Male chuvinsit Iranian man concept of sex is rape,

As long as we're on movies and nostalgia, Ghaisar, starring Behrooz Vosoghi was by some accounts the most "successful"  Iranian movie of its time. I was reading a critique of it which said ( correctly so) it was also the most reactionary Iranina movie ever made. Come to think of it that movie and the whole genre it initiated evolved around male chuvinism, and machoism. Was there really a long strech between Ghaisar and these basiji thugs we have to face now?

Kolah Makhmali, and basij, different sides of the same coin?!

Iranian male concept of sex is rape

Which has justification of hejaab as the other side of the coin.

از یک طرف

از یک طرف این فیلمها را می‌ساختند از یک طرف مسجد

You do the math

Also at the same time they would ban a film such as "Gaav" okay now you do the math.

اوا! بیخود نبود ما اجازه نداشتیم فیلمای فارسی ببینیم

in film haa hamejaaye donya sakhteh mishod, vali 1) keshvar eslami nabood 2) digeh beh in ellat enghelaab nashod!

beram sare baghiyeh clip haa :o)

Noooooooo

This as crappy as any film can get. Cheap thrills.

BUT should it be banned?

Should stuff like this justify a revolution?

Noooooooo.

Nostalgia?

I do miss " Tehran International Film Festival, " I saw " Taxi Driver," " Barry Lindon," and a few other movies ( I can't remember their names, old age...). But this garbage, pppplease!

If these soft-porn stuff makes you nostalgic , I recommend to post " Berahneh Ta Zohr Ba Soraat" [Naked till noon speedly?]starring Eiren, she was much better looking than Marjan.

 P.S. I love Hassan Kachal, after all these years I still sing some of the lyrics. Where was the nudity? Could you post some of the dancing scenes from that, please!

Come On Guys You never saw this on Iranian TV just cinemas

And besides Someone had to give you a Sexual Education ...

And you would get it in the Cinemas at worst and with your shy distant cousin at best ...

In both cases it was hardly an introduction to sexual education ...

I never saw an Iranian Actor and Actress Kiss on the lips on Iranian TV.

Actually That was one of the frustrating things for me as a kid and movie buff cause you would see that on any Hollywood film or american and European series aired on TV  Even the Oldest Movies showed People Kissing

Cinema Paradisio:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW_-0H_u3RQ&feature=related

but you would never EVER see even the slightest sex suggestion in an Iranian TV production.

I think the only nude scene I got to see was in a series called Hassan Kachal and It shocked me as a kid I didn't speak to my parents for a week ;0)

Each time we would go to Bazar area or in Town I recall all the Huge Posters of Iranian movie Stars and actress and indeed most of the time it was SKIN DEEP !

In anycase it was either this or you had to go to Turkey and Get a Full Taste of Oriental Sex ...

Dunno why We Iranians are So "Coincé" on the subject of sexuality ? 

Even Pedophilia was more tolerated than normal Sex. Just remember Malijak in the series Nasseredin Shah and their ambiguous relationship which was shown ( without sex but still ...) ... It disgusted me each time I saw it.

All the more that you simply had to go to Isfahan to see all the sexually exposed breasts and bodies of Qajar Favorites depicted on the walls of some of the Persian Palaces to get an idea how Retarded Our Generation was in comparison to our peers.  

Thank god the generation today are more aware and educated than we were at the same age ...

Anyway we are a F...CKED Up Mentality I tell You ... No one in the region is as Prehistoric as we are in regard to nudity ... And Even the PRehistoric had nothing to wear but animal Skin to cover themeselves ...

Now imagine if he had gone SLOW ...

Anyways these Movies were hardly Masterpieces ... Nor aimed to be ...

Sigh ...

At LEast Parviz Sayyad Tought You how to Get to "San Francisco" ...

LOL

Too Fast

Shah Was Going Too Fast  Hay Man We Are In Islamic Country What Ahall You Are Doing

sex sells always

sex sells everywhere, yesterday, today and even tomorrow! come on, even in the advanced countries ...

tell me, can you as parents compete with the TV in your living rooms? 

Nostalgia?

For bad acting, rape scenes and dubbed movies.

Of course none of us "motojadeds" would have seen these movies when they came out. We even looked down on people who would go to these movies. We were more into "Nouvelle Vague" films and perhaps "alternative" Persian cinema.

One thing that I remember about these movies was the fact that they were heavily censored and one with the right connections in the trendy neighborhoods of Tehran could watch the censored parts in private parties.  

common those days

Iran's films were filled with rape scenes, many extremly graphic and intentionally sexual...something that is illegal to make or broadcast in the advanced countries...

Raul

aren't you the smart one!

These look like

rape scenes!  Disgusting!

..

I just watched the first video and my first reaction was like: aoooow ajjab barooni miyad.!           Maziar

This Saeed Rad seems to have got all the Girls in his bed ;0)

pictory: Nude Scene with Marjane prior to becoming an MKO Icon (1970's)

همین اراجیف رو درست کردند که حال و روزمون این شد.

ما رو چه به این جلف بازی ها. دور از فرهنگ ایرانی‌ هست این
مزخرفات. این چیز‌ها رو بگذارید برای اون ممالک چند صد ساله بی‌ بوته و
ریشه.