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Kurdistan-Iraq's
first submission to the foreign-language Oscar race |
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Kurd Net is NOT responsible of the content of the
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Kurdistan-Iraq's first submission to the
foreign-language Oscar race
11.2.2006 |
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PALM SPRINGS,
California (Hollywood Reporter) -- Iraq's first
submission to the foreign-language Oscar race,
"Requiem of Snow" is a quietly devastating
modern-day folk tale that pits an independent-minded
teen girl against patriarchal tradition.
Debuting feature director Jamil Rostami set out to
depict an "ignored" part of Kurdish culture: poetry
and art rather than the long shadow of war. But for
all its touches of whimsy, "Snow" pulses with a dark
undercurrent: the tide of limited options that its
heroine bravely attempts to swim against, toward her
own idea of happiness. The drama, which had its U.S.
premiere at the Palm Springs International Film
Festival, is a memorable tale worthy of art-house
attention.
At the film's outset, Rojan (Shadi Variani), walking
over the rocky hills of her village on the Iraq-Iran
border, welcomes a longed-for, drought-ending
snowfall. She also eagerly accepts, from letter
carrier Saeed (Jalil Mohammad Veysi), a missive from
the boy she intends to marry, Jian (Masoud Yousefi),
who has gone to an unnamed Western city to make
money for their wedding. Her father (Mohayeddin
Variani), deep in debt, has no patience for such
romance. In Jian's absence, he promises his daughter
to prosperous businessman Faegh (Anvar Farajpour), a
widower who sells Konica merchandise from a cavelike
storefront.
Wedding preparations begin, and a primal battle
ensues. Everything Rojan wants shames her father and
offends his Old World sensibility. His wife,
resigned to her lot, warns the girl, "He'll throw us
both out of the house." Rojan escapes that house to
rendezvous with her returning fiance, with the help
of simpleton Saeed. But soon she must escape yet
again, this time over snowbound, wind-torn hills.
Among the nonprofessional performers, some proclaim
their dialogue without an ounce of subtlety, but
Shadi Variani brings a fiery spirit to the central
role, making Rojan a likable and admirable
protagonist. The screenplay by Sholeh Shariati takes
a surprising turn when Rojan, like a test from God,
crosses paths with an ascetic, one of only two good
men she encounters during her ordeal. By film's end,
the snow whose quenching arrival felt hopeful
carries a promise far removed from any youthful zest
for life.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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