FILM-FORWARD.COMReviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
Director: Kayvan Mashayekh. Produced by: Kayvan Mashayekh, Sep Riahi, Jason Tenenbown, Andrea Borella & Belle Avery Written by: Kayvan Mashayekh & Belle Avery. Director of Photography: Matt Cantrell & Dusan Joksimovic. Edited by: Duncan Burns. Released by: Arrival Pictures. Language: English & Farsi with English subtitles. Country of Origin: USA. 95 min. Rated: PG. With: Vanessa Redgrave, Rade Serbedzija, Moritz Bleibtreu, Christopher Simpson, Bruno Lastra, Adam Echahly, & Marie Espinosa.
The Keeper begins as might a historical documentary, zooming in on a
sandy modern-day map of the Middle East, while displaying didactic captions
summarizing generalities about Iran and its surrounding countries.
Immigrants, the film notes, are slowly losing their cultural heritage as
time proceeds, generations age, and natives drift further from their
homelands. Even at the outset, the film is clear about its point: to recall
the importance of salvaging one's cultural past. Specifically, director
Kayvan Mashayekh focuses on carrying the memory of Omar Khayyam, the great
poet and astronomer of 11th century Persia, into the modern day.
His story is structured in a manner quite prevalent in Middle-Eastern
literature, most recognizably in A Thousand and One Nights, in which
an outlying narrative frames other story lines no less significant in scope.
A young boy, Kamran (Adam Echahly), wants to know the story of Khayyam. His older
brother, who is suffering from leukemia, retells Khayyam's life story
from his hospital bed. This plot line fails to sufficiently move the viewer - partly due to the
soap-operatic acting style on the part of Kamran's Iranian family, and to
the somewhat melodramatic nature of the situation. Oddly, Kamran speaks
Farsi with his family, while the central story line is in English. Obviously,
the film is clearly aimed at a Western
audience (the film would never be permitted in Iran due to sensual content;
moreover, it would be almost unnecessary there, where virtually all
know of Khayyam. He is much less known in Western countries).
In addition, with the possible exception of Kamran, the characters in the
contemporary narrative are not developed enough to be sympathetic, unlike Khayyam and the characters
with whom he interacts - Malikshah (the Seljuk King), Iman Muaffek (Omar's
mentor), and Darya (his only true love). In addition to its historical
relevancy and informative component, this part of the film is a
beautifully-captured love story.
Besides the language barrier, the historical narrative contrasts quite
strikingly with its modern-day counterpart. But despite the drastic
differences in costuming, setting, etc., the two narratives merge
seamlessly and manage to keep the viewer entertained and undisturbed by the
apparent discrepancies. The film could have easily emerged as two separate
and unrelated stories, creating an absurd side-by-side combination. Instead,
Mashayekh successfully carries out the embedding device, and succeeds in
capturing the essence of Omar Khayyam, while relaying an additional and essential message - the value of
cultural roots in forming one's identity. Parisa Vaziri
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