The House is Black
is a film by Forough Farrokhzad. It is a short documentary about the lives of
people suffering from leprosy. There are several scenes of the deformities of
leprosy in a particular village. The documentary also explains that in areas
where leprosy is treated, the disease became eradicated. The tone of the movie
is dark and grim. Farrokhzad attempts to portray a feeling of hopelessness with
her words and some of the images shown. Actually, the film is full of courage,
bravery, happiness, and faith.
At
the beginning of the film there was a voice of a male narrator saying, “There
is no shortage of ugliness in the world," before Farrokhzad takes over and
starts reading, "If man closed his eyes to it, there would be even more"
(The House is Black). Those statements and sentences are attempts to throw the
audience off. The movie does
contain ugliness but it is the ugliness of leprosy, not the villagers. Throughout
the film, Farrokhzad narrates from the Old Testament, the Koran, and her own
poetry. Those words are very evocative, yet they were her opinion. There was
not a villager that gave the impression of feeling the need to “fly away”. She
only spoke about those people wanting to escape their lives. She sees them as
victims and helpless.
The villagers are
actually heroes. They live and function with deformities and sickness that we
would not be able to survive in our modern world for that long. There is an
irony of the prayer she films the children reciting, thanking God for all their
body parts that allow them to interact with each other and the rest of the
world by saying, “Thank you, God, for giving me eyes to see the marvels of the
world” (The House is Black). “Thank you, God, for giving me ears to hear
beautiful music” (The House is Black). Despite the fact that those body parts
are obviously deformed, unattractive, and unpleasant to probably to the rest of
the world, they never question God about it. In our world today, most of us
would question God and not accept the way we are. “I thank you God for creating
the flowing water and fruiting trees” (The House is Black). The children are
thankful for things that the average person takes for granted. They see it as
God offering them the same things that everyone else has.
Farrokhzad asks, "Who
is this in Hell praising you, O Lord?" guessing how they can be gratified
for things that will not last them a long time (The House is Black). She
downplays the fact that belief and faith are some the strengths of these people
and that is why they have the courage to accept the way they are. That’s the
beauty of life. Despite everything, there are children playing, adults laughing
and talking, and people working in synchronization to make a pleasant life out of
a bad circumstance. There's even a wedding between two lepers in the village.
It brings almost everyone in town and it also symbolizes that we don’t have to
be perfect to enjoy life. The children laughing and playing are rays of light
through this dark film. There is the feeling of togetherness amongst the
villagers as they sing and dance in celebrations of being alive. A simple ball
gives these people pleasure and creates laughter.
There is a portion
of the film that shows medical treatment for the lepers. Even during these
potentially painful treatments and therapies, the lepers remain positive.
Another scene shows the villagers bringing their trays and dishes to a place
where they receive food. The mood amongst the villagers is calm and
cooperative. There is no fighting, yelling, or evidence of greed during this
time of distributing rationalized proportions. We have seen scenes on current
news stations that show similar situations of hunger and disease, only to see
the ones receiving aid becoming violent in the distribution process.
The
movie ends in a classroom scene. The teacher asks a young boy about being
thankful for his parents. The boy replies by saying that he has neither a
mother nor a father. This appears to be another attempt to convince the
audience that the situation is grim. The teacher moves on and asks another
child to name some beautiful things. The child is able to recite what he
believes is beautiful without hesitation. The passages of the Old Testament
that the students read are positive and full of praise to God.
In
conclusion, Forough Farrokhzad did make a fantastic film. In all of her
attempts to paint a picture of a struggling, suffering, and miserable village
of lepers, beauty and light are visible amongst the people. She uses the
deformities to sway the viewer into believing that we must look and acknowledge
the ugliness. Her poetry describes sadness and desperation. The attitudes and
expression of the villagers is the opposite. In the beginning of the film, she
made reference that there will be an increase of ugliness if man ignores it.
When the ugliness in the movie is ignored, and the people are viewed as
survivors of their circumstance, making Farrokhzad’s reference invalid. The
villagers were able to cope with their circumstance. This film can be a lesson
to those of us that don’t suffer from disfiguring and painful illnesses. We
don’t have to live in material beauty as long as we are able to find beauty
within ourselves. We should not question God for our shortcomings, but be ever
grateful for our blessings. Simple things such as vision and hearing should not
be taken for granted, and are some of the greatest gifts, along with the gift
of life.
Works
Cited
The House is Black. Dir. Forough Farrokhzad. 1963. YouTube.
1 October 2011. www.youtube.com.
Written by student: Donald
Written by student: Donald
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