Film du mois:
“The Day I became A Woman” directed by Marzieh Meshkini

I first came across this film last year. I was wandering through the streets aimlessly ...seeking out some way to distract myself on a friday evening. I ended up in a video shop where I bought three DVD's...one of which was the Iranian made film, "The day I became a woman". I was drawn to this film because I was, at the time, researching the topic of Muslim women and their
Freedom, and to what extent the Western superiority complex is justified.

I was particularly interested to see how the film would display Iranian culture, and if it would be a critique or defense of how women are treated in Iran.

This incredible film is made up of 3 short stories (subtly intertwined), where each story is an excerpt from a particular girl's / woman's life in Iran.

The first story recounts the last hour of "freedom" of a little girl
before she becomes of age when she must adopt the veil and other obligations as a female in Iran.

The film portrays the little girl alongside her male best friend as
being equal up until the point where they both must "part ways" as culture and social norms are enforced upon them. What I liked most about this
story, and this runs throughout the 3 stories in general, is the fact
that while the film maker clearly has a certain opinion on this issue
and wants to portray it, she does not have to revert to obvious
stereotypes or perverse self-righteous lessons to get the message
across. Both the girl and boy in this first story are equally affected by the girls retreat into the home and seclusion. One notes the freedom which the little girl is afforded as a younger girl and how girls and boys play together as equals. The veiling part, or entry into womanhood is shown to be something which is accepted by both children as a necessary part of growing up in their cultural tradition. While one feels great sadness at
the dissolution of the children's friendship because of this social
norm and enforced separation, the children's own acceptance of this
change after they say goodbye to each other, reminds us of the reality of
that tradition. Tradition and culture in any part of the world is always a double edged sword in that it creates us as individuals and also forces us to conform, and this conformity often goes against our individual freedoms and desires.

The second story is at the heart of womanhood. It deals with one young
woman's freedom within a marriage or perhaps it would be more accurate
to see it as her quest for freedom from a marriage. We see a line of
black veils moving along by the sea - it is a race, several young women are
riding bicycles along the coast path. There is an amazing
sense of strength, endurance and direction in all of these women as
they cycle along side each other. As a group there is a sense of
camaraderie in their equal desire and motivation to push and challenge
themselves to their maximum capability, and they achieve this by
competing with each other. This personal drive,focus and their
physical and mental strength is further emphasised by the fact that
they are fully veiled and riding at what seems to be the hottest part of the day. All of the possible cultural and physical "impossibilities" for women are juxtaposed with pure human determination in this scene.

For me this story centered on women's mental and physical strength alone and as a group (not in front of an audience as they are completely in the wilderness
and it is far from an "official or publicised race" - it is a personal journey if not clandestine ) and how when allowed time and freedom to express
themselves in solitude, women are just as driven as men in their
struggle for freedom of the soul from human bondage. The veil seemed
unimportant or secondary in this story as it is only a piece of cloth
which at some points in the race is an obvious hindrance in the heat. *(see footnote).

I was made more aware of the repression of women in Iran when one of the cyclists is chased by her family and is warned to stop this "rebellion" on this "devils tool" (the bicycle) as she will be divorced by her husband if
she does not return home and submit to their rule over her
immediately. They are on horse back galloping alongside
her and struggling to keep up with her and the group.

As with the girl in the first story, I felt a certain sadness and pain at watching this woman cycle into the unknown as she completely disobeys her family and tradition. I hate to use the word tragic hero as it seems like such an artificial, almost hollow word to describe her. However, there is that sense of extreme respect and awe at this woman's strength, in defying everyone and everything in her life and pursuing her own personal freedom. Yet at the same time we are conscious of her own awareness and that of the women around her to the fact that this defiance cannot and will not be
tolerated. Thus the story ends with her being stopped by a barrier
of her brothers and husband. On watching her arrest, one realises the reality of her conventional life, one she has just sacrificed for an hour of complete internal freedom. The closing image is extremely powerful...it's almost as if her life has ended.

The final story revolves around an old woman. It is almost like rewinding back to the girl in the first story and shows the freedom which she enjoyed before she was veiled. Essentially, in old age one enjoys the same freedom as a child and more so because no obligatory "growing up" is in their future
horizon. All three stories center around 3 moments in time when
women are completely free and able to do as they wish and enjoy and
appreciate this brief moment of freedom. This old woman who we at points might feel is a victim of her culture, in that she was never fully free until her husband has died, still reveals humanity and strength. She accepts her culture as we in the West towards the end of our life must accept the social and cultural restrictions placed on our freedom in our lifetime. The old are
afforded a freedom that they cannot enjoy physically but they
can enjoy it in every other way. The old woman goes out and buys a whole kitchen of appliances and new furniture with her recent inheritance, something she could never afford or do before this moment.

This film is incredibly moving and in a very subtle and politically inoffensive way. No stereotypes or lessons are made. It is simply 3 short stories in which we see the strength of women and how while society's
inequalities of gender is highly relevant and its restrictions made
obvious through-out, it is found that women's strength is the main
focus in this film. After watching this film I again felt compelled to
question the whole "West vs. East" notion of different treatment of women. After all it is not so long ago that women in the West were completely
powerless. Many Western people especially women would also question the idea that the West is leading the way in women's and gender equality.

In the end, as I thought it would be, this film was highly relevant to my research. It reminded me never to simply take on "the common opinion" and to never shy away from questioning our version of history and feminism. Evidently, with regards to basic human rights and equality laws, I respect and recognise the importance of equality laws in the West which are not fully
enjoyed by women in the majority of the world. However, I think to
feel that we have reached a full level of equality and that both
Western men and women feel fully free to be "people" is far from
reality. The role of women in society and what they are appreciated
for is still something which every culture is challenged with.

**Foot note

I am reminded at this point of Leila Ahmeds book "Women and Islam"
in which she talks about the veil being used by the West as a means to
justify colonisation and superiority of the west over the east. While
the British chief commander in charge of colonisation of Egypt
(Cromell) was staunchly against the suffragette
movement in Britain, he justified colonisation of Egypt by the fact
that the Muslim culture was inferior to Britain because of the way in which it treated their women. He reiterated that seclusion and the veil showed up Muslim culture as being inferior (this was at a time when high society ladies in the Britain wore corsets) and thus began the whole equation of the veil with women's inequality and Muslim culture. Thus today we are in a situation where a deveiling for a Muslim is often associated with a loss of cultural
pride and succumbing to the old imperial ruler (trading Muslim values
for Western values). Unfortunately today in the West we still have to
take account for this past and continuous action and how we have had
such a destructive role in history, especially in distorting the evolution of
women's freedom in the muslim world.

Norah Dineen