Customer Reviews

The Hidden Half

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was surprised by the depth and quality of this film. The Hidden is about a woman who finds out a female activist is in jail and about to be executed. Not to give anything a way- she does what she can to free this woman. This is a wonderful tail of secrets, love, passion, advocacy, and care I have ever seen. What was also beautiful was the city itself- set in beautiful Iran. This movie also shows that women are treated respectably and can educate themselves. That they have their own way of expressing addressing their own issues and that we as westerners need to let them do that- with our support.

I would not change anything in this movie. The DVD has chapter selections but your better off watching the whole movie scene by scene or you will skip a lot of information.

Given that Paul Sheldon Foote condemns this movie (while all
others are are for it), tells a lot about the movie: it must be
a good one.

Any time a movie or a book is praised by ordinary individuals but
condemned by the (religious) fascim or their supporters, then
rest assured the item in question is a good one.

A recurring theme in Paul Sheldon Foote's writings is to
condemn any democratic opposition to the terrorist dictatorship
ruling in Iran. Thus anything (a movie, a book, a
short article, etc) that is critical of the religious facsim
in Iran is sure to be attacked by Paul Foote. This item is of
no exception.

That's why I strongly recommend it.

I am a big fan of foreign films, but more so of Iranian cinema than others. I am half Iranian and my only setback is I need the subtitles to go along with any of the movies that interest me.
In this movie, the subtitles are sometimes practically invisible to read and yet the acting ( especially by Niki Karimi ) is so real and superb, you can almost draw on what emotions are behind the words. It threw me for a loop this film, mostly because I didn't have any clue what I was about to experience when I put in this DVD. What came about was a really ineteresting movie about secrets, and hidden pasts, and the things and people who shape and help our lives. Just when I thought I'd seen the last of the surprises, this movie surprised me again. I don't want to give away how nice and refeshing it is to see a love story in the most innocent of expressions, no nudity, and no sex. And Iran certainly doesn't invest alot of money into their movie making budgets and it proves that you don't always need these common things to produce a really great movie.
I can say this, there are some movies ( Iranian films ) that just lose my attention or I have to force myself to sit through, and there are others; such as The Hidden Half that you can't even imagine missing for a moment.
I really reccomend this film to anyone who wants to see a well made film. Good acting and and a good story.
And when you finish this one, here are some other great Iranian movies to see:

The Color of Paradise
Children of Heaven
Leila

i enjoyed reading about the history of irans revolution if another review but disagree with the rating. the movie was not about the revolution and uprising. although it failed to show this, it was ok, because it was not meant to. the movie was about one womans life, and how her past was able to save another woman from being executed by a wrong decision her judge-husband would make. the movie was a narrated history of the womans past from tehran university and her activities being involved in a resistance group, and the small bits of uprising you see are all you need, as the movie wasnt meant to depict the issues of the time, only this womans story. in telling her story to her conservative husband through a notebook or diary she snuck in his suitcase when he went on a trip, she attempts to allow her husband a view into her past which is probably not what he would have expected of her. i thought the film was a good story, and it also showed a twist of fate within the story, because she finds out her own truths about an older love interest from her past.

I'm no movie expert, but after viewing this film I feel moved to write to tell you that it is worth every bit of time to view it. In a world where a woman is supposed to be a blank slate at marriage, the director portrays one woman's desire to have her life before marriage acknowledged. In doing so, she hopes to convince her husband, a judge charged with hearing the appeal of a woman sentenced to death for expressing herself, to see that this woman, who only appears at the very end of the film, could be his wife, his daughter, or his mother. Much of the film portrays the judge's wife's recollections, and some of the activities and organizations portrayed seem to have distracted at least one of the other reviewers here. At some points, subtitling is lost in white backgrounds, but this happens infrequently. Even with any minor flaws, this is a powerfully moving film. And, for Americans, it's just a little glimpse of life of a people in a country of which we hear little good. Could the director also be asking us to see Iranians as people, and not mere Islamic crazies as many in power here would have us think? See this movie.

I liked this movie.I think it shows just what people inside of Iran suffered in the 70's as well as today,and that many disagree with the current leader there.This is realy a must see for the current events happening today.Also it was a good love story and I realy felt for the girl in that. Im Nadia Rehmani and I wrote Sharper Than A Two Edged Sword which also deals with a culture clash.check it out if you liked this movie.

Tahmineh Milani's The Hidden Half is a controversial (in Iran) 2001 Iranian film in Persian (Farsi) with English subtitles (sometimes unreadable). Much of the story is about the experiences during approximately one year (1979 to 1980 academic year) in the early stages of the Islamic Revolution of a 19-year-old female philosophy student, Fereshteh (played by Niki Karimi, winner of Best Actress for this film at the 2000 Cairo International Film Festival), at the University of Tehran who became active in Communist political groups (including Maoist and Marxist groups such as the MEK).

Milani, born in Tabriz in 1960, studied architecture at the University of Tehran during the time period depicted in the film. In another of her films, Two Women, the University of Tehran student was a student of architecture also named Fereshteh.

In the film, some of the older actors portrayed former Communists who were active in trying to oust the Shah from power in 1953. The Tudeh Party, Iran's pro-Stalin Communist party, split over the issue of whether to support Iranian nationalist Mohammad Mossadegh (1882 - 1967). Some Communists believed that the best way to achieve ultimate Communist goals was to support initially nationalists. Other Communists believed that the only path was to have violent Communist revolutions immediately.

By 1979, as noted in the film, young Iranian Communists knew little or nothing about Mossadegh and other leaders of earlier political movements in Iran. Instead of the Soviet Union, the focus of many young Iranian Communists was on violent Third World Communist revolutionaries, such as Che Guevara (1928 - 1967) and Ho Chi Minh (1890 - 1969).

The University of Tehran students portrayed in the film were members of a female cell of Communists who distributed flyers and sold newspapers for Communist organizations. The film did not show any guerilla activities. Instead, an older, former member of the Tudeh Party with romantic ties to Fereshteh only referred to her as a guerilla.

The expressed meaning of the title of the film was that no one should judge without knowing the whole story. However, there were no scenes of religious students, secular nationalists, or other non-Communists having discussions of their values. Instead, the role of religious students in the film consisted of removing Communist flyers and posters.

On August 27, 2001, the Iranian government jailed Milani because of this film or because of her comments in interviews about this film. Iran's president, Mohammad Katami, intervened to have her released from jail. After her release, Milani explained in an interview in America that approvals for films in Iran can take many years. The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the Council of Film Reviewing, and the Islamic Propaganda Office approve all aspects of an Iranian film. As a result of these constraints, viewers of the film have speculated about double meanings for the title of the film and about intended messages. Based upon the content of Milani's other films, some reviewers have speculated about the subtle or hidden feminist messages of the film.

For Americans, there are other important messages and critical omissions in this film. The MEK (or MKO or Rajavi cult) is and has been a Communist terrorist organization. The film contained no explanation that the MEK was founded in the mid-1960's, not in 1979, to remove America's ally, the Shah of Iran, from power by violent revolution. The film contained no explanation of the role of the crucial support of the Communists for the Muslim religious leaders in the Iranian Revolution. After the Shah of Iran fled from Iran, the Iranian Revolution evolved into a battle over whether the ultimate revolution would be the Iranian Communist Revolution or the Iranian Islamic Revolution. During the year depicted in the film, the Communists were staging a counter-revolution against their Islamic partners who ousted the Shah of Iran.

The film failed to include any mention of the murders of American military officers, Rockwell International employees, or of innocent Iranians by the Communists before 1979. During the period depicted in this film, Milani failed to mention the Iran hostage crisis. The MEK Communists, including University of Tehran students, supported the taking of American Embassy hostages for 444 days and even provided many of the brutal hostage takers during the period depicted in this film.

After the period depicted in this film, the MEK became active in American politics and media, using an office in the National Press Building in Washington, D.C. The MEK has made campaign contributions to many Democrats and Republicans in Congress. In a full-page advertisement in the New York Times, January 15, 2003, MEK supporters praised 150 members of Congress for supporting the MEK. The advertisement included the names and photographs of three Democrats and three Republicans in Congress. Shortly after the advertisement appeared, the American military invaded Iraq and attacked Camp Ashraf, Iraq, the main military camp of the MEK in Iraq. Even though the State Department has classified the MEK as Marxist terrorists, the neoconservatives were able to require the American military to protect the MEK at Camp Ashraf. On May 1, 2003, as the American military watched, the MEK who survived the American attack celebrated May Day with Communists around the world and flew their Communist flag over Camp Ashraf.

Two of the members of Congress praised in the New York Times advertisement, Bob Filner (Democrat, California) and Tom Tancredo (Republican, Colorado) have formed a new caucus in Congress to support the MEK: Iran Human Rights and Democracy Caucus.

For American viewers, the real value of The Hidden Half is seeing a biased, dishonest, sanitized glimpse of some of the Communist activities in Iran in 1979. Most non-religious Iranian-Americans tell me that they would rather see the Islamic Republic of Iran for the next 100 years than one day of the Rajavi cult. Milani failed to reveal this hidden half of the story about Iran.

Professor Paul Sheldon Foote

California State University, Fullerton

pfoote@fullerton.edu