The Circle * * (two stars)
The message is clear before entering the theatre, a subhead beneath the title reads: "Arab women get no respect. Banned from Iran."
The message is equally clear after viewing The Circle. Don't see this movie.
There is no need to even view this film to know what it entails. The poster of the bruised Arab woman's face used for marketing and an artsy showing only at one theater in the Philadelphia area says everything you need to know.
And was it entertaining? No, it was rather a bad attempt to convey an important message: in Iran "you should've been born a boy". The viewer leaves the film grasping that message yet sick to their stomachs. Not by the message but by the director's failure to turn a plot, and win the audience.
The movie was painful. Not because one of the featured women the moviegoer follows in misery had a black eye for nearly the entire film, but because it was an obvious attempt to be overtly cinematic rather than allowing the script to become art by connecting to the viewers. The failure of this film is its attempt to stretch the artistic perspective too far.
The plot (if there is one) follows a chain of events and happenings of six Arab women in a downtown Iranian city as they are passed from one abusive male dominated scene to another. Eventually, they all wind up in a jail cell together.
The film is titled The Circle because of the circular nature of events leading from womb to jail cell. Each girl is faced with further abuse and are randomly connected to each other by chains of illogical events. The point being everyone ends with the same fate when they are born a female. Good point, bad film.
The Circle Directed by: Jafar Panahi Starring: Maryham Paravin Almani Rated: NR
