(Banned
in Iran - Now Available on VHS & DVD with great quality
and English subtitles)
Uncensored
version of
this film is now available on DVD & VHS with English
subtitles for $17.95
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A
satirical snipe at the life of Iran's clergy, "Marmoulak"
("The Lizard"), has become a box office hit here after only
narrowly making it through the Islamic republics scissor-wielding
censors. Director Kamal Tabrizi's film begins with a daring prison
escape by convicted thief and anti-hero Reza, jailed for life for being
caught one too many times. Injured in a prison brawl and sent to the
infirmary, Reza finds the robes and turban of a cleric and slips out of
jail undetected. He then discovers the benefits of life as a holy man in
the northwestern holy city of Mashhad, and keeps up his charade. What
happens next is a moral transformation - the one aspect of the film that
could at least please the most hardened clerics. After preaching in
prisons and even at weekly Friday prayers where worshippers become
captivated by his simplicity, Reza becomes a respected religious figure
and a man who finds God himself. But there is also an underlying
criticism of the men of the cloth who have ruled Iran for the past 25
years. Firstly, Reza's easy-going style - including sexually suggestive
jokes and even speaking of "brother (Quentin) Tarantino," the
US film director - brings people flooding back to the mosques. Coupled
with this is the message that God and the various interpretations of the
Koranic message are accessible to all - even a convicted thief who
should under Islamic law have his hand cut off. If the film has one
message, Tabrizi says, it is to say to the clergy that in order to
survive and to maintain their contact with the people, they should
accept criticism." The Lizard" could become one of the most commercially
successful Iranian films of all time. Critics have also pointed to the
film's more refreshing, accessible style - a far cry from the more
highbrow and often surreal offerings of internationally acclaimed
directors Abbas Kiarostami or Mohsen Makhmalbaf, directors who have
scored with foreign festival goers but not a large chunk of the Iranian
public.
