In 2007, the Iranian film “Ekhrajiha” was released. This became one of Iran’s best selling movies and like a lot of Iranian best selling movies, it garnered a lot of controversy and went through phases of being banned and unbanned. Proving yet again that the people in charge are idiots, because movies like “Ekhrajiha” are the best forms of propaganda for them IF ONLY THEY COULD REALIZE IT. Unlike other Iraq-Iran war movies that come out from Iran, “Ekhrajiha” tried a new thing by focusing not on 100% Morally Fantastic Men but instead on a group of outcasts, thugs, thieves, drug addicts, and so on. This group volunteers to go the army.The film was controversial (and when I say that, I probably mean controversial from the perspective of a few hardliners) and it upset the government because they claimed the film was making light of the war (because it is a comedy) and that it shows the people who fought for Iran in a bad light, since it was showing that a bunch of outcasts had joined the army. A moronic complain, because the movie showed that the army straightened this people out! By the end of it, the gang leader martyred himself for his country. How is this in any way not the best propaganda material!
That’s enough for one. The sequel (I think this is the first sequel EVER in Iranian film industry) was about them being captured by the Iraqi army and their time as PoW. Already this was making the government folks frown. A comedy about being a PoW? Unacceptable! Controversy, controversy, but it was released. Again, if I was the government of Iran, I’d go to the director’s house and shower him with money, because this is nothing if not a huge propaganda film. There are other lowlifes in the prison, aside from the characters from the first film, and initially they are ready to befriend the Iraqis for benefits while selling out their country. But by the end of the film, ALL the PoWs join together to sing the Iranian anthem in front of an angry group of Iraqi generals.
I might have found the film more amusing if I watched a few months back. But watching it right after the post-election unrests, I can’t feel a little saddened about the many Iranians that sacrificed themselves during the revolution and during the eight year old war with Saddam (and by proxy, the rest of the “free” world), all to reach a point where even the most obvious propaganda film is being criticized by the government for not being NICE enough. Sad.
1
2
3
4
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.png)
