Pedar (Father)

Pedar
Directed by Majid Majidi

This is a movie which brings forth a different aspect of widow remarriage. Well I cite widow remarriage, since co-incidentally the last two Iranian movies I had watched (and blogged about) was on the above mentioned topic.One was Milani's 5th Reaction and the other Kambozia Partovi's Cafe Transit. Both revolved around the struggle of female protagonists to lead a life of their own, after their husbands' death, and denial to re-marry or lose the control of their life to another man, whom they donot love. In Cafe Transit, the man is shown to be so deeply conditioned in patriarchy, that he cannot bring himself to face the fact that the woman would struggle to live an independent life without his help. In Milani's 5th Reaction, its the father in law (well i have alreay written enough about this movie in my last blog).
Majidi takes up the story from a different perspective. What happens to an adolescent son who finds his mother remarried? Is the anguish merely due to the sheer thought of finding his mother disloyal to his deceased father's memories which are so dear to him? Is it Oedipus complex? Is it hurt sentiment to find himself unworthy of taking care of the family as the male scion, that his mother chose to remarry for a better life? Or is it the deeply entrenched feelings of Patriarchy which somehow cannot accept the fact that someone else is now controlling the life of her mother taking advantage of his absence and denying him the right of his duty and pride?
In fact if you ask me, it was all these and much more.
Majidi however didnot make the movie for us to understand the protagonist Mehroleh. He takes his narrative further ahead to find the reactions and repulsions between Mehroleh and his step father. Majidi, seems, has great faith in human values and emotions. His movies are rooted in the belief that love and strong faith for each other in a family cures the mundane-ness and struggles of even an impoverished life. Rather it enriches you with hope for a better future. Hence in Children of Heaven we find the sheer love and understanding for each other never make Ali or Zara crib for their indigence. Rather they co-operate towards a solution.
This co-operation by the people towards amicable solution is an inherent tone of Majidi's movies.
Undoubtedly Pedar can be no different. So it was all the more interesting for me to watch this issue of widow remarriage being approached and sorted through the two males in the life of the widow-both imperative to her.
Mehroleh is a laborer in Tehran. The movie opens showing him shopping happily in the streets of Tehran. In one shot we find him fondly staring at a photograph which gives us an idea of his father. On the way back to the village, Mehroleh unfortunately loses his father's photograph in a stream.
Mehroleh's friend Latif meets him on the way and breaks before him the news of his mother's remarriage to a policeman and her subsequest shifting to a bigger house. Latif's version of the story reveals the fact that Mehroleh's sister was unwell and needed money for treatment. The policeman provided for the money and later got married to her mother.
Mehroleh's anguish and sorrow is uncontrollable. It seems, more than the idea of his mother's betrayal to his deceased father's memories, what hurt him more was the incapability of proving himself as a dependable caretaker of the family.It was this guilt more than the anger and hatred of someone else occupying his father's position to which it seems Mehroleh succumbed to.
He refuses to stay with his mother and even goes ahead with the money to win her back from her present husband.
His adolescent pride bruised and hurt at his mother's settled life makes him wild and sick. The policeman takes the ailing Mehroleh home to his mother for reconciliation between them and himself leaves the house citing an excuse of some work outside.
In flashback the story unfolds. Also like in every Majidi movie,we donot find the man as a patriarchal symbol with an urge to dominate the lives of everyone around him. Rather they are simple fallible human beings with their own weaknesses and shortcomings. In Song of the Sparrows Karim the doting father loses out to wants and greed amidst the city junk. In Colors of Paradise,Mohammad's father was torn between his desire of having settled life and caring for a blind child. The policeman here, is no exception. He didnot play any barter game by paying for the child's treatment and getting a bride in return. Rather he is a divorcee, dejected for his failure to have children, and one who loves children dearly.
Hence seeing his mother happy in her life with the policeman, although Mehroleh suffers from Oedipus complex, in real sense, it is through sheer understanding and need for mutual company that these two people got married.
Though his mother hinted at the impossibility of her staying single, thanks to the societal pressure, but this was not indeed a marriage she was forced into out of gratitude.
To strike a bigger deal, Mehroleh along with Latif flees to the city stealing the policeman's gun.
The rest of the movie then becomes an interesting chase and pursual game. In the journey back from the city, these two people discover a cord between each other and that comes through struggle.
There follows a game of constant rejection and persuasion between this reluctant son and the adament father. One thing i need to mention here is accepting Mehroleh is not imperative to the policeman. However itis evident he does it out of sheer love and want for having a happy family and more so to see his wife happy.
The reluctant father and son duo traverse miles midst the sandy deserts, the barren dusty roads before they discover the love in the relationship. There are some warm, funny moments, when Mehroleh argues with his step-father accusing him of his false tall claims of executing bandits. Through such arguments, the warmth of the relationships slowly unfolds. The fatherless adolescent Mehroleh, amidst his hardships as a worker boy in the city almost had forgotten himself as being still young, demanding, argumentative. With Latif his prantics in the water reminds us that he is still a boy. And in his anguish and constant efforts of writing off his step father we find the boy is growing. He is in his adolescence years-the most difficult time for a young adult. He himself hardly understands the feelings he undergoes. His hatred against his step-father shows the frustration he faces in leading an existence without anyone's love.However he is too proud to show off his longing for love. The same is the issue with his step-father. Among all the rebukes he hurls at Mehroleh and his slaps and at times threats of punishing him in a jail all come from his disappointment from the failure of being accepted as a father to the boy. Slowly the argumentative heat starts melting the hearts and through the cracks and crevices love seeps in. The crying Mehroleh accuses the policeman of depriving him of the love of a home, when the rest of the family enjoyed comfortably without him. For the first time we find, how bruised and lonely the young boy is.All his tantrums and denials were no different from that of a child, who throws airs around to get attention, to make sense of his small existence amongst others in the family. The young patriarch, always in charge of taking care of his family starts crumbling. The policeman's efforts seems to convey to him a sense that "he is wanted in the family". This gives him hope and finally love to accept his step-father. The efforts of the father to connect to the son is dealt cleverly enough by Majidi. In the guise of captivating Mehroleh from fleeing, the policeman puts handcuffs in one of his wrists and the other he puts around Mehroleh's. And we wait till we find the physical bondage between the two slowly give way to an emotional one.In their way across the desert the policeman collapses and on the verge of collapsing freeing Mehroleh from the handcuff, urges him to carry on to save his life.Mehroleh However refuses to do so. With great efforts he locates a small stream and drags his step-father to the water.
I wait in baited breath for Majidi to come up with something brilliant here. And why not, here comes his favorites ,rivulet, sunlight and two persons who are now somewhat ready to accept each other. And I get one. From the policeman's pocket drops a photograph showing him, his wife and other children, which get carried away by te stream towards Mehroleh.
And we know...
Majidi has done it again.
Majidi's movies donot highlight social ills. Rather they focus on the best parts of the country’s culture and flourish on them. They are deeply rooted on the family values and traditions of Iran, yet are universal in their themes.
The global themes of fatherhood, adolescence and emotional bonding through distress will remind every viewer how the world is so large yet so small.