# Sib (1998)

### reviewed by
Harvey S. Karten

     THE APPLE (SIB)

Reviewed by Harvey Karten, Ph.D. MK2 Productions Director: Samira Makhmalbaf Writer: Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Samira Makhmalbaf Cast: Ghorban Ali Naderi, Azizeh Mohamadi, Massoumeh Naderi, Zahra Naderi, Zahra Saghrisaz

A recent article in the New York Times science section refers to that perennial question: does money buy happiness? Agreeing with the sentimentalists, sociologists firmly agree that once you have enough for the basics and then some, additional increments don't mean all that much. Though the American standard of living has tripled since 1947 (contrary to what people say about the good old days when you could buy a newspaper for two cents), Americans have proved in surveys to be equally happy from 1950 to 1959, from 1960 to 1969, and from 1990-1999. In fact even people in prison were found to be on the whole as happy as those who are not, which brings us to a startlingly original film, "The Apple." The picture by the 18-year-old director Samira Makhmalbaf (the youngest director ever to have a movie play in a principal section of the Cannes Film Festival), opens on the faces of two 12-year-old girls. They are smiling, and they continue to beam and grin throughout the 85-minute film. Why is their happiness unusual? It is peculiar because they have been imprisoned every day of their lives. Their father, now 65 years old, and their mother, who is blind, kept them locked in their homes so that they were never exposed to the sun, to other people, to the games that all children need if they are to become socialized.

"The Apple," which could be called for want of another genre term a dramatized documentary, portrays Zahra and her twin sister Massoumeh as the daughters of two Turks living in Iran, specifically in a run-down section of southern Tehran. Their 65-year-old dad explains early on to a social worker who has heeded the neighbors' complaints and has come to his residence that he keeps his girls with him at home because he fears that they will be defiled by the local boys. The social worker takes the girls away from their father, sending them to an agency which bathes them apparently for the first time in weeks, gives them short haircuts, and outfits them with new, clean clothing. The girls are returned when their father promises to keep the gate open for them, but he promptly reneges, draws new complaints from the neighbors, and is given a unique punishment by the social agency.

The story, about girls who are so unsocialized that they'd have been better off being brought up by wolves, is arresting enough. What makes "The Apple" particularly compelling is that the actors are not only non-professionals: the parts are played by the involved people themselves. The bearded father, who wears Coke-bottle glasses, agreed to this Pirandellian arrangement because he believed that the movie would clear him from the dishonor which he feels was heaped upon him by a society that did not understand his apprehensions. Newspapers and TV exaggerated, insisting that the girls were chained up. Their dad, who insists that this never happened, believes to this day that he had done the right thing.

Truth to tell, there are few professional thesps who could match the old man's performance. Breaking into lilting prayer in which he invites God to take him from this vale of tears, the guy draws sympathy from the audience for his sincerity. Speaking metaphorically, he compares the sun to boys, and flowers to girls: "If the sun shines upon the flowers, they fade." If anyone disbelieves that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, "The Apple" will wipe the doubts away. The young girls, Zahra and Massoumeh, are a pathetic duo despite their frozen smiles. They have been so "protected" from the outside world that they scarcely know how to walk, and their conversation is more unintelligible than that of the goat that hangs around outside their home. The animal knows even how to eat an ice cream pop in a more mannerly way than these young women, who appear retarded at first, but as they play with others whom they instantly befriend, they seem to grow intellectually and emotionally in leaps and bounds.

The apple of the title is metaphoric, standing for the sexual knowledge with which Eve tempted Adam. That piece of fruit figures in various scenes. In one situation, the girls take the fruit from a vendor, not even realizing that they are stealing. In the most transparent metaphor, a boy of about nine years dangles an apple on the end of a pole, urging the girls to jump and try to reach it.

"The Apple," which features improvised dialogue from the neighbors who complained to the social agency, says something about the power of women in Iran. Though we in the west may believe that all Fundamentalist states are alike, it's significant that a social worker has the power to disagree forcefully with the man of the house, to take the girls away from him, and in one humorous incident to lock the man inside his own house as a taste of his own medicine. "The Apple" is unusual and evocative in many different ways: in its image of a society caught between medievalism and modern striving; in the spontaneity of the actual people involved in the publicized actions; and in the speed with which the film was wrapped. It's certainly not as charming as the amazing "Children of Heaven" or "The White Balloon," but stands as a striking example of Iranian cinema verite.

    Not Rated.  Running Time: 85 minutes.  (C) 1999
    Harvey Karten

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