Half Moon: Film Review

2008-02-23 10:15:53

There are undoubtedly some films that stretch the Western cultural imagination to the point of bursting but with Bahman Ghobadi’s Half Moon, the bubble is not only burst but its watery remains can be found half way down the M6. Read on to find out if our reviewer Adam Harwood managed to recover the shattered remnants of his imagination, or not.
    
The tale is based around Mamo, the well respected head of a large family. He and his 15 sons are to leave the safe haven of Iran for the treacherous location of Kurdistan in northern Iraq. Their aim is to take their highly crafted instruments, and a female singer, to proclaim freedom in the region in the form of a concert. Their quest is long, arduous and ultimately ends in failure with the ageing Mamo’s death, in adverse conditions, from hypothermia.
    
The film is richly engrained with clever camera angles and a stunning musical score. But frankly, if a cinematographic experience is primarily meant to contain an enjoyment factor, this film is sadly lacking. There is a certain degree of emotion invoked and the savagery of the landscape can be appreciated. But the few comedic moments of the film drew, at best, nervous laughter from just a single audience member, and overall, the relevance to a Western crowd is invisible.
    
Two areas where this film most certainly succeeds are in the portrayal of Mamo, whose struggle between life and death is powerfully emotive; and the portrayal of his Iranian family as a whole, giving a humanist angle to the Iranian culture we know so little about. But the greatest failure of this film is that through the many perils that they suffer, it is highly infrequent that the Iraq war is mentioned in reference to their problems in getting to the concert. To appreciate their difficulties, a Western audience needs to be reminded that they are living on the cusp of a war zone. Instead, their problems are largely predictable – the corrupt police, the belligerent attitude towards women and Mamo’s increasing years are to ultimately prove their downfall.
    
This film is not for the faint hearted, nor for the faint minded. Only a great deal of understanding and concentration is needed to appreciate the cultural values that this film offers, and one suspects such applications are well beyond the average film-goer.
    
Review: Adam Harwood
    

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