The Apple

The Apple
Directed by Samira Makhmalbaf
Plot Summary:-
Apple is a story of two girls (Zahra and Massoumeh Naderi)who had been locked up inside for 11 years by their 65 year old father (Gobran Ali Naderi) and consented by their blind mother(Azizeh Naderi). Finally, on the 12th year due to complaints raised against the family by the neighbours to the social welfare department, these girls are freed and are taken into custody by the welfare officer. However due to vigorous request by their parents the girls were sent home, on the condition that they will not be locked up. However the inevitable happens and the girls are once again locked inside. The social welfare officer on her next invigilating visit finding that the plights of the girls have not changed releases the girls and locks their father inside. Also she hands him over a hack-saw telling that she would take the girls with him, if Gobran is unable to cut the locked gate with a hacksaw. The father tries to reason out that his activity is not to torture or behave in inhuman manners with his daughters. Rather it is his only way of protecting them. He is from the old Islamic school of thought and he believes in the scriptures saying, daughters are like flowers that if exposed in the sunlight would fade. If left in open, their blind mother would not be able to keep an eye on them and the sanctity of the girls then may get tarnished due to advent of boys. The welfare officers insists on the girls to play outside and in their first exposure into a world out of the scrambles of four walls and an iron gate the girls bask themselves in their new discoveries. They have ice-cream, loves to find their reflection on the mirrors gifted to them by the welfare officer and want to have an “apple”. A local neighbour boy takes them to a shop where they wish to buy apples. Finally they come back home to their father who beyond the locked doors give them the money to buy apples. The girls buy apples and even play with other girls, eat apples and come back and open up their father and together they go to buy a watch for themselves.
In the meantime, the blind mother unable to find anyone comes out into the street. There the neighbourhood little boy, tries playing with her through dangling an apple on a string near her. In spite of her blindness, she manages to grab the apple and the movie ends.
Apple is based on a true story and even the characters are also the real people around whom this incident happens.

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From the very beginning of the civilization, “apple” is the forbidden fruit. Adam and Eve were admonished and thrown out of heaven for eating the apple and Eve and her descendents are blamed till date for ever coveting for this “forbidden fruit” to taste wisdom. No wonder throughout all the cultures and races, it was woman who at some point or the other was deprived the taste of this “forbidden fruit” which is a strongly symbolic with liberty, knowledge or education, anything which would enable them to lead a life of their own. They were tamed, domesticated and often in many cultures had a plight not very different from the live-stock reared at home for milk and things. This very strong, injustice and inequality subjected to women for centuries is represented with a fresh, different view, yet through a poignant story of two 12 year old girls.
The first scene shows a lean hand stretching itself out of a locked iron gate to pour water on a small flowering shrub. But the water does not reach the flowering pot and hence the flower is shown to be wilting. Massoumeh’s and Zahra’s lives are no different from this flower. They have spent 11 years of their lives inside a locked room, had never come out, not even to have a bath. When rescued by the social welfare, they are found to be hardly able to speak in a comprehensible language and have No idea of the world, which they are seeing now.
From the social welfare hostel, their parents bring them back. Their father too worried about losing his dignity and grace and he is never apologetic nor understanding about the condition he has created for his daughters by locking his daughters. His wife is blind and unable to keep an eye over the girls. He has to earn his livelihood. He finds it unsafe to let his daughters play out, lest boys would cause him disgrace. In fact he locks his daughters out of sheer love of protecting them and cites his knowledge from scriptures saying that girls are like flowers and exposure to sunlight would fade them. His whole concern here therefore reflects the fear of his innocent pubescent girls getting de—flowered. The movie brings forth here the concern and insecurity the parents feel about a girl-child in the society. Their vulnerability drives a father to lock them away from the world.
In the social welfare office, the blind mother is more concerned why the girls are without head-scarves. Completely oblivious to the crime they are doing to the children by hoarding them up in coupes, the mother is more concerned about the social and religious rules. May be that’s what social conditioning in a theocratic state does to you.
Throughout the movie the director has used visuals as connotative symbols. The first of it was striking enough, when the girls return home holding an apple. They are again locked up. However their penchant for apples continues. The movie ends with the blind mother able to grab the apple. In between the daughters go and buy apple and coming home, are able to unlock their father. This is an incredible use of clever symbols. The unlocking is unlocking the father from his age-old beliefs and this they go to buy a watch (may be signifying the beginning of new times) Mean-while the mother come out from the dark dungeons of the house and is able to reciprocate to the neighbourhood child’s pranks by “grabbing the apple”
The most important message is provided, when the social worker hands over the old father with a hack-saw. She gives him an ultimatum, saying, if he is unable to cut through the locked door, he would lose his daughters. This is just a pronounced appeal to all to cut through and get rid of the old shackles of wrought beliefs and ideas. No one can free yourself except you. And unless you get rid of this old baggage, you would lose your closed ones by pushing them far and away.
Massoumeh and Zahra, here represent all those who are being deprived their basic right of freedom and education. Overall, Apple is a beautiful experience to enlighten the darkened souls and to rock the women out of their slumber of incarceration and illiteracy. Hopefully such movies would make the women craving for “apple” without any guilt or pangs of shame.