We're No Angels
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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Marmoulak (The Lizard), |
| 2004-04-26 |
| A satirical Iranian movie depicting the life of a convicted criminal who disguises himself as a cleric has become a box-office hit in Iran. The film, Marmoulak (The Lizard), was originally scheduled to be screened in late March during the Iranian new year holidays. But the authorities found the message of the film offensive to the clergy and ordered it to be banned. Later they allowed it to be screened with some cuts. The film follows the fortunes of Reza Marmoulak - Reza the Lizard - a convicted thief who disguises himself as a Muslim cleric to escape from prison. He then discovers the benefits of life as a preacher under Iran’s clerical rule. On his way to the border to leave the country illegally, he arrives in a village where the people have been waiting for a cleric to lead their Friday sermons. Reza the Lizard becomes their popular religious leader and captivates their imagination by his simplicity and brings worshippers flocking back to the mosques. So one message of the film is that even a convicted criminal could go through a moral transformation and find God himself. But what has probably angered conservative clerics is the underlying criticism of their privileged position in society. Hardliners are also uncomfortable with the prospect of a criminal acting as a cleric and a mullah who does not know much about Islam and jokes with the worshippers. Mocking clerics is a taboo under the Islamic government and The Lizard is the first film to cross this red line. The director of the film, Kamal Tabrizi, has said that the clergy must understand that in order to be able to survive they should accept criticism. Film critics say that The Lizard is one of the funniest films ever made in Iran about the clergy and they predict that it could become one of the most commercially successful Iranian films of all time. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #7
We're No Angels |
| Posted by: Anonymous4052 2004-04-27 1:07:12 AM |
| #6 Super Hose / Pappy : You are thinking of "Were No Angels". In the movie Penn and Robert Deniro escape form prison and disguise themselves as monks. Penn decides to stay at the monastery where he avoids recapture by the prison guards, and Deniro escapes over the Canadian border with Demi Moore . . . |
| Posted by: Anonymous4052 2004-04-27 12:58:26 AM |
| #5 Also brought to mind Brother Orchid (Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, etal, 1940), although the plot is considerably different. Yeah, I'd buy a DVD, too. |
| Posted by: Old Grouch 2004-04-27 12:58:16 AM |
| #4 Pappy, aren't you thinking of the Whoopie Goldberg vehicle, Sister Act? :=) |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-04-27 12:35:34 AM |
| #3 I'm just dying to see the Iranian versions of Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye! [I]t could become one of the most commercially successful Iranian films of all time. Um, yeah... Color me underwhelmed... |
| Posted by: Dar 2004-04-26 11:44:53 PM |
| #2 I wonder if it is available outside of Iran... with English subtitles.... and without the 'cuts'... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-04-26 10:11:17 PM |
| #1 Wasn't Sean Penn in a movie with a similar plot line? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2004-04-26 9:56:34 PM |