Global Lens Update

The Global Lens Film Initiative is a roving cornucopia of cinematic delight from all over the world. The idea is that film happens in even the most rural corners of human civilization and that it all should have a chance at a wider audience. Different theatres are selected for "FREE" you heard me, FREE!!!! screenings of Global Lens features. Last night The Balboa Theatre was the site for the screen of two films: Max & Mona (South Africa) & Border Cafe (or Transit Cafe - Iran).



I saw the latter of the two movies, hoping to keep the oriental pleasure I'd been having at the Arab Film Festival. To put it lightly, Transit Cafe did not dissapoint in the least. John Cleary is fond of saying that Sitt Marie Rose by Etel Adnan is one of the few feminist novels to come out of the middle east. I'm not sure if that's true, I haven't read quite enough middle eastern or Arab literature to say if that's true or not, I do agree with him though on the notion that its a very powerful work of feminism, but not traditionally speaking. It has that subtlety that is eviden tin Maralyn Robinson's Housekeeping where you have to look between the lines in order to find that which doesn't fit in with the normal definition of feminism, and the feminism that is discussed in the book is more than just the book's focus on a family of three women. If we take Carol Gilligan's definitions of gender as being based on a certain value inherant in relationships (men define their space by establishing their own families and breaking with the past, in the sense of children, the rule set is more important than personal feelings, while in women its about personal feeling and the preservation of relationships), then Robinson's book is incredibly feminist, or maybe feminine in that it is about saving those very tender and tenuous relationships when you're at the absolute fringe of sanity and society.

Reyhan is a woman caught in the world of Sharia law. She lives on the Iranian border with Syria. Her husband owned a cafe before his death. According to tribal law she is supposed to marry her brother inlaw and to join his family so she can be looked after. There are two things satisfied here, 1) family honor in that family takes care of its own, 2) established tradition and saving face for the dead, so that his wife doesn't shame his memory. Reyhan isn't from this area, nor does she have any intention of marrying Nasser as wife #2. Defying his wishes, and he is somewhat diplomatic at first, she reopens the cafe and fills it with a domestic hospitality that brings to mind the hospitality of the Phoecians to Odysseus in Homer.

Reyhan takes in a young Russian girl running away from the war, which war isn't stated, but I'm assuming its Chechneya, who is 19, has lost her sister and is trying to make it to Italy. Neither woman speaks the other's language, and there atender scenes of them crying on each other's shoulder, and there is this innate understanding. Here I have to bring in a personal story, as it fits, it just does. When we were emmigrating from Russia we lived in Ladispole in Italy, a way station of emigres awaiting final marching papers to the country that would take them. We lived with an Italian family, my grandmother doesn't speak a word of Italian, nor English for that matter, and the family we stayed with spoke no Russian, yet she, my grandmother, would tell my mother stories about the lives of the family, as she and the mother of this Italian family would spend countless hours on the roof top doing laundry. My memory from that roof top was a garden full of tomatoes.

So Reyhan is a rebel in the purest sense. She is defying tradition, which somtimes trumps the written law, but the law here is Sharia, and according to Sharia she is only entitled to 1/8 th of the inheritance, the smallest share, because her husband left no will. The lion's share of the inheratance and the rights to the property of her cafe belong to Nasser. Eventually, Nasser's diplomacy runs out and he takes her to court. The cafe is closed and she is left on her own. Throughout this there are numerous subplots, and the story is partially told through a kind of "remembering" and "witness" to the magic of this border cafe through the eyes of the young Russian girl and Zakario a Greek Trucker who falls in love with Reyhan who turns down his kind offer of taking her and her two girls out of there. There is a mystic quality to the food and the scenes of her cooking, chopping vegetables, grilling eggplants and potatoes, plates of steaming basmati rice in safron with heaps of lamb. The film fits into that long tradition of "foodie" cinema punctuated by such gems as Big Night, Babbette's Feast, The Dinner Party, Mystic Pizza, Chocolate, Water For Chocolate, Eat Drink Man Woman, Fried Green Tomatoes, Vatel and maybe even, well this is because I find the perversity of this film delightful, The Cook The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover.

I checked Netflix, its not available yet, but when it becomes available, you must rent it. Its a delightful film with moments of hilarity and a subtle approach to something that women in more countries than Iraq face, the right to be self sufficient and make decisions for their well being. Not only the right, but the means with which to make it happen.