Septembers of Shiraz follows a wealthy Jewish Iranian family who were prosperous pre-Revolution, but the Revolution turns their life upside down. I went into the movie expecting it to sympathize with the Jewish family, but I wasn't expecting it to be so critical of them. In fact these wealthy folk were so patronizing and entitled, it was hard to completely sympathize with them.
I knew the Iranian revolution had a lot to do with class struggles. For instance, the Shah was living in obscene luxury and ignoring the condition of the vast majority of the citizens. But it was only after watching this movie that I connected the Iranian Revolution to the French Revolution. Yes, when the oppressed masses can't take any more obliviousness from the elite, they will take them to the guillotine.
In most of the Western-made stories about Iran, the loss of a flourishing cosmopolitan society is emphasized - they lost arts and culture, they lost anything that made them multicultural, and so on. But in watching this, the tragedy was recontextualized to me into something that was inevitable. All this art and culture and cosmopolitan life was restricted for the elite, while the masses suffered. Of course all of that had to go. Now I think that the tragedy was that the rich and the powerful took their power for granted and exploited everybody else instead of sharing their wealth and knowledge.
I knew the Iranian revolution had a lot to do with class struggles. For instance, the Shah was living in obscene luxury and ignoring the condition of the vast majority of the citizens. But it was only after watching this movie that I connected the Iranian Revolution to the French Revolution. Yes, when the oppressed masses can't take any more obliviousness from the elite, they will take them to the guillotine.
In most of the Western-made stories about Iran, the loss of a flourishing cosmopolitan society is emphasized - they lost arts and culture, they lost anything that made them multicultural, and so on. But in watching this, the tragedy was recontextualized to me into something that was inevitable. All this art and culture and cosmopolitan life was restricted for the elite, while the masses suffered. Of course all of that had to go. Now I think that the tragedy was that the rich and the powerful took their power for granted and exploited everybody else instead of sharing their wealth and knowledge.