the May Lady (98, Iran)
04.26.05 (6:51 pm) [edit]by Rakhshan Bani-Etemad. This is a movie about a female documentary film maker in Iran in late nineties. Even in first ten minutes, I stopped for I had a problem of keeping to watch. Given this is about opression for women in the society, I should interprete that the movie is serving to the theme when the protagonist find her teenage son as another domineering male presence in her life. Since they live as a single mother and the only son for a while, the protagonist bewilders to encounter her son's indirenct but imposing opposition for her seeking for another man's love in her lfe. The issue of feminism hits h er and she finds herself torn beteen two different values, a traditional devoting mother who sacrifices herself for her children and family and a woman who fulfills her sexuality. However, the immediate reason that I could not bear to keep on watching was a scene where the angry son treats her mom like a servant; the mom accidentally splashes some water (liquid) on his favorite shirt. The angry son insists that it is the only shirt he want to go school with when the mom suggests there're a bunch more to change into. After all, his sullen attitude automaticly cues mom to wipe it.
This scene puzzled me for its lacking criticism; it is even followed the mom's internal monologue as "recently he acts like my man." They remains the dark age of feminism because of this unawareness of role playing of gender. It is unthinkable to let a man treat his mother this way, but how people are actually unaware of it! If a man can respect women comes down to how he perceives his mother. In the same token, how many women give in the role of slave mother, or rather willing to participate it! That is the point of how the culture passes on to the next generation and reinformed. Peole never get over the troubled convention of slave mom until women are lucid about it and begin to say firm no.