Synopsis
Set in a leper colony in the north of Iran, The House is Black juxtaposes "ugliness," of which there is much in the world as stated in the opening scenes, with religion and gratitude.
The House Is Black
1963 ‘خانه سیاه است’ Directed by Forugh Farrokhzad
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Alternative Titles
Khaneh siah ast, Ev Karadır, La casa e nera
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This 20-minute documentary-short about an Iranian leper colony contains more elegance, grace, poetry, beauty, and insight into the human condition than 99% of the films released nowadays with 10 times that time. The House is Black (available to view here) was the only film directed by the Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad, a legendary figure in feminist literature who died in a car accident in 1967, thus cutting her career tragically short. The proof she leaves behind of her total and complete understanding of cinema is unshakeable. I dare you to watch this and not come out fully tuned-in to life.
It starts with a subversive gesture. An initially scary zoom-in to a female leper, whose hijab covers her head and…
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The House Is Black is the only work of Iranian poet and filmmaker Forough Farrokhzad, who tragically perished just five years after its completion when she was involved in a car crash at the age of 32. It's a documentary which she became inspired to make after journeying to a leper colony in Azerbaijan, and the outcome is an inspired accomplishment which provides a frank glance at the misery of life in the settlement that allegorically casts a broader light on the predicament of a population living in shadows, away from society's considerations.
In spite of the fact that the footage is the straightforward exhibition of the lepers in the leper colony, it is blanketed with a narration of Farrokhzad’s…
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"On this screen will appear an image of ugliness... a vision of pain no caring human being should ignore.To wipe out this ugliness and to relieve the victims... is the motive of this film and the hope of its makers."
... and the statement has been spoken. Farrokhzad was a stunning poetess that emptied her heart and soul to create a contrasting mosaic of Iran. God's creation and the ugliness of the unnatural colliding with philosophical wisdom. I just spent 22 minutes with her and I already miss her so terribly.
May we meet in Heaven if God allows it, Farrokhzad.
100/100
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The House Is Black begins with a quote from editor, director and adulated modernist poet Forugh Farrokhzad, and when translated into English, reads as such:
“There is no shortage of ugliness in the world. If man closed his eyes to it, there would be even more. But man is a problem solver.“
I think what Farrokhzad set out to accomplish by making this short documentary film focusing on the inhabitants of a leper colony and their daily lives in Northern Iran was to contrast the aforementioned ugliness many perceive on the surface, with the undying drive and triumphant beauty of the human spirit. Never does the film attempt to exploit nor downplay the suffering of its subjects. Instead, we are shown…
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The teacher stares at the children.
"Why should we thank God for having a father and mother?" he asks.
The children are silent. They don't meet his gaze. He points at one child. "You, answer."
The child pauses. The teacher waits. The child looks down, responds.
"I don't know, I have neither."
And that is just one of the gut-wrenching moments in The House is Black.
The House is Black is a look inside an Iranian leper colony and it is an incredibly difficult movie to sit through without flinching. It is also amazing. The editing especially, jumping from one scarred face to the next, is so effective it never lets you have a moment of comfort. And more importantly it shows the colony's residents as human, not abstract victims of a biblical plague.
Truly gutting, amazingly powerful and astounding film making.
Thanks to @Arsaib for mentioning this to me the other day!
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No one wants to expose themselves to the ugliness of the world! We don't want to lie in bed at night haunted by thoughts of people dying on the other side of world in some military skirmish or imagine some child wheezing her last breath due to starvation! No we prefer to sweep it under the rug where we can't see it and go about our everyday life!
But then you have people like Forough Farrokhzad who become the voice for the marginalized people of the world! She was a feminist poet whom faced the same discrimination and injustice the women she had represented had endured! You see you have to know the enemy (intolerance, prejudice, misogyny etc) in order…
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A work of great empathy and purpose. We focus on those with leprosy; a visual poem crafted to expose the plight and the need for care. It is a supposed exposure of the ugly sides of life, the ever existing ones, but is truly a work of beauty, humanism and love.
Poetry and religious readings underscore well chosen images, these visuals becoming poetic features themselves. It would be easy to see this as an Ode, but that would be too reductive. This is not a celebration, but nor is it mere exposé. This is a layered portrait of how things are and what is done.
The real wonder is that it is never only one thing, but it is always…
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"Remember you have made yourself beautiful in vain, for a song in the remote desert, and your friends who have denigrated you" - Forugh Farrokhzad
Beauty in vain is the perfect description of the hope and humanity that this film presents. Famed Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad turned filmmaker just this once before her death to film this important subject on human compassion and the beauty of life within. For a short documentary just spanning slightly over twenty minutes, Farrokhzad equipped with her poetic narration and compassionate lens is able to not only examine the life of a diagnosed individual with leprosy but channel their outer turmoil with their inner beauty to make the audience realize we are all one in…
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"Alas, for the day is fading the evening shadows are stretching. Our being like a cage full of birds is filled with moans of captivity."
This documentary, following the lives of those living in a leper colony, is the only film of Forugh Farrokhzad, a woman Iranian poet, who died at 32, only four years after making the film, but it is, at 21 minutes, spare and powerful, and it is no wonder that it is credited with sparking the Iranian New Wave.
She films as you might expect a poet to do - layering spoken verse (from the Bible, the Koran, and Farrokhzad's own poetry) with potent, select images, each image speaking volumes, some images repeated - all together…
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Iranian Cinema - A List of Good Persian/Farsi Films boxd.it/5pAgU
A short film that is impossible to see without covering your face at least once.
One of the most humane, poetic, unsentimental things I have ever seen.An exceptional and sadly underseen film.