No One Knows About Persian Cats

The film intercuts syncopated jazz-funk jam sessions with scenic rides through Tehran, following Negar  (Negar Shaghaghi) and Ashkan (Ashkan Koshanejad), performing as Take It Easy Hospital, as their eccentric manager, Nader (Hamed Behdad) helps obtain illegitimate visas from underground dealers.  The old man they see assures them the visas are foolproof, but while Negar listens to the man, the perspective shot suggests a hidden camera.  Eventually, their passions catch up with them, but not before Nader desperately pleads his way out of an arrest.

Several Iranian bands are featured.  Some of their lyrics are understandably political; one metal group belts out, “The fences around your mind cannot contain me,” in Farsi.  A number of them record songs in English to share their stories with a global audience.  These sequences, juxtaposing band footage and city life, are shot like a music video, which speaks to a younger generation fed sociopolitical commentary through scattershot images and sound bites of the internet.  It hobbles the narrative at times, yet it is also the reason this film exists—to simply convey ideas that cannot be uttered in some countries.  It’s a clever way to engage an audience that might not otherwise take interest in the age where all media are vying for one tenth of a second of your attention.  Simultaneously, it’s a crafty means of flying these concepts under the radar of censors who might respond with even greater punishment to any type of overt statement.

This kind of filmmaking bears a risk unshared by mainstream Hollywood filmmakers.  In March, Iranian director Jafar Panahi was arrested and remains imprisoned in Iran for his political views.  Mr. Panahi’s film, The Circle, won critical acclaim including the FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) Award at the 2000 Venice Film Festival.

It is imperative that westerners see this and other films coming out of Iran as a counterpoint to the current Brown Scare that seems to be preoccupying our minds the way the Red Scare did during the Cold War.  We were told  that Soviets were evil monsters out to get us.  Today, many believe that Mexicans and Muslims are evil monsters out to get us.  Bahman Ghobadi’s film reminds us of that which our younger generation, born after the Wall fell in November of 1989, haven’t understood.

What we learned of our alleged foes is that they were just like us.  They wanted jeans, Coke and Led Zeppelin… but could only get it on the black market.  This movie tells the story of an underground band cutting a record in Tehran, whose members need visas to leave the country for Europe.  All they want is for their music to be heard.  There are no messages of revolution or anarchy in their lyrics, just the desire to do things you and I take for granted—drinking wine on a mountain top, for example.

No One Knows About Persian Cats is not particularly provocative when viewed through the lens of Western sensibilities and privileges.  But it’s a tad myopic to view it and its spiritual sibling, My Tehran For Sale, as bereft of any substantive message.  There is no bolder political statement that cinema serves, directly or indirectly, than to champion freedom of expression.

No One Knows About Persian Cats • Dolby® Digital surround sound in select theatres • Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 • Running Time: 101 minutes • MPAA Rating: Not Rated • Distributed by IFC Films