In Green Revolution, Forough Farrokhzad’s Words Remain Relevant for Iranians
While watching the video of the weeping woman, I immediately began to think of Forough Farrokhzad‘s landmark short film, The House Is Black.
In the film, Farrokhzad shows life in a leper colony – a place where the beauty and ugliness of the world meet. Throughout the film, Farrokhzad narrates her own poetry, verses from the Qur’an and the Old Testament, speaking of the ugliness that surrounds. An ugliness that man is both victim to and creator of.
Like most contemporary Iranian cinema, the film can be seen as an allegory of Iranian society, and society as a whole. Thus, the ugliness of the last seven days in Iran has reminded me of Farrokhzad’s remarkable film and what it says about the nature of ugliness, society, and the human condition.
Below are selections from The House Is Black:
The world is filled with an ugliness. There will be more if man does not fight it.
I am distraught because the day is ending and the shadows of the afternoon are growing.
We live imprisoned like a cage full of birds.
The cage is overflowing with the cries of imprisonment.
Like prisoners we are crying for mercy. It will not come.
We are waiting for the light but now it is dark.
I wish I were a pigeon so I could fly to safety
because it has seen such suffering and oppression on earth.
I speak of the bitterness of my spirit.
While I am calm and quiet,
My wounds overtake my body.
Text courtesy of @Askbilal.
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