son of dawn - the movie

bargeboo: recently behrouz afkhami, one of well known iranian directors/politicians has decided to make a film about the life of ayatollah khomeini titled “son of dawn” . he has been facing a lot of opinions on such a daring move. like the prophet of islam and his descendants (who were known as emams), emam khomeini (as he was refered officially), enjoys a un-touchable and mystical status among religious iranians. often the harshest chritisism from reformists in iran might be directed towards the government and even the supreme leader but khomeini remains revered and a territory no one touches.

years ago director moustapha akkad made "mohamad: messenger of god" about prophet mohammad; very similar in many ways to the movie on jesus, "the greatest story ever told". the main difference however is that mohamad and his descendants are never actually shown. no actor plays them. their presence, movements and actions are all implied where the actors talk to the camera when they talk to the prophet and the camera moves to show his movements and so on.

to make a film about khomeini is to bring him to earth; to make him into a flesh and blood person who did regular things, watched television, ate beans and salad and used the toilet … so to speak!

apparently till recently afkhami had chosen to remain quiet in the face of all the discussion. today however, i ran into his tongue in cheek response printed in shahrvand newspaper. i dug around a bit but could not find the english version so here it is my translation of it. hope you enjoy it as much as i did.

  << original source:  bamdad newspaper >> 
<< taken from "shahrvand newspaper" >>
<< december 3, 2004 >>

Behrouz Afkhami, Iranian director published a letter in response to various opinions and new reports that have been published in some publications in regards to his new project “the son of dawn”:

I, behrouz Afkhami, screen writer and director of the movie “son of dawn”  about the life and childhood of the great Khomeini) extend my advice to all those who intend on twisting the film into something of their own or would like to present it as a harmless and commonplace movie.I advise them that they should stop wasting their time and begin by using all their power in order to arrest the development of this movie. I am talking to some of the “brothers” who write in various papers, instead of publishing so many lies and facts about the qualifications of the future actors of this film, focus on my lack of moral and Islamic character and write enough so you can close it down. You will have no other choice. I will not stop and will not make the film on my own. Instead I hope to make a film in which Emam’s delicate sensibility and his sense of humor shines in clear difference to you and your kind’s. I want to show that he was a poet, person of literature and did not even see fit to be rude to his enemies.

Today’s generation, does not know our dear’s Emam well. But they do know your kind well that with a bitter face and rash actions use his image and bully and belittle the people of arts. I hope to make a film so I can show he was something else other than you, cowered members of secret organizations; to show the fundamentalist ideology and art haters of “Ben Ladens” and “Rajavies” and their similar counterparts inside iran have nothing to do with the truth of Islam. As fundamentalism of bush and his gang has nothing to do with true Christianity and Zionism is far from the path of Moses.

I hope we can make a film where I can shine a bright light on the big differences between the core of his actions, temperament and mannerism and yours; the differences between your Islam and the true Islam that he brought forth. I will do this so well, enough to piss you off so then instead of wasting time looking for excuses, hurry up and close up my shop.

I (if I end up staying) will respect his ways while filming as well. I will be respectful to the actors too. I will not spy into their personal affairs and instead of allegations, gossiping and bull shit, I will be busy evaluating my own actions.

“son of dawn” will welcome all talented artists of before and after revolution who loved emam and would like to appear in his movie. We welcome everyone without considering their past. They should know that beside the “fundamentalist brothers” there is another tribe that is determined to stop this film. This group usually uses telephone and sometimes calls from Los Angeles. They offer you kind advice and then give warning and if necessary they even threaten you and tell you that in the future government (meaning the one that will come to power in the second term of Bush!) you will have to pay for playing in this movie.

The truth is that many of the intellectuals and modernists take up the same strategies and opposition tactics as the followers of the fundamentalist Islamic republic, whenever they don’t like an artistic or a cultural effort. The only difference is that these people don’t have too much power right now and will have to be content with telephone calls.

In any event, this is a film where neither the main supporters of the Islamic republic like nor those who oppose it. The actors who have refused to play in the movie make up a long list, which gets longer every day. Many of them were not opposed to Emam or the Islamic republic but they have either been influenced by terrifying phone calls or they fear for their reputation to be sullied in the newspapers of the “brothers”.