Don’t let the title fool you. The documentary This Is Not a Film is very much a film. In fact it’s one of the most audacious cinematic creations of the last decade.
JafarPanahi, a renowned Iranian director, was sentenced to six years in prison and given a twenty year ban on making movies after he was arrested in 2009 for opposing the Iranian government. While awaiting an appeal, he decided to challenge the ban and document his day-to-day life using just an iPhone and a camcorder. The reel was then smuggled into France in order to be released.
The sense of social and political rebellion is what makes TINAF so much larger than itself. It’s what turns an hour of otherwise mundane home videos, into what is possibly the most blatant piece of protest art the Middle East has ever seen. So much so that President Obama has recently cited Panahi as an example of oppression in Iran. However, from watching the film, one gets the feeling that Panahi does not want to be seen as a victim. Not once does he preach for viewers to go act on his behalf. He instead uses most of the screen time to provide personal insight on his career as director. And while TINAF has arguably brought him more attention than any of his past works, viewers get the impression the doc is not what he wants to be remembered for. The telling scene comes when Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, Panahi’s friend/cameraman, says to him “You have a a twenty year ban on all activities, yet we are making a film.” “Film!?” Panahi replies, “You call this a film?!”
Unfortunately, the Iranian government disagreed with Panahi’s directors definition of the word and subsequently arrested Mirtahmasb after the “film’s” release.
Rating: This Is Not a Film is perhaps one of the ballsiest film/film titles…ever. 8.5/10
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