From PASTO, COLOMBIA-Via: L. A. CA; CALI, COLOMBIA+ORLANDO, FL
Hanieh has reached the breaking point. She feels her drug addict musician husband, Ali, has become the anchor that is drowning her in a vortex of despair..."Do you think I want this?" She shrieks despondently..."I want to be FREE!" Yes, Hanieh, you and 34 million other Iranian women! Sometimes it takes a foreign gem like this one to underscore just how lucky we are here in the U. S. A.; where we can rent, view, enjoy and discuss this film with impunity. No secret police bursting down our door at 3 in the morning...No Siree!
Irony of ironies: Owning "Santoori" on DVD, or showing it, is very serious offense in Iran. Worse now, I would imagine in light of the recent police state crackdown: "Only a terrorist agent of the Great Satan would possess this propaganda!" Of course, Santoori is many things ...Subversive is not one of them! The film is a cinematic ode to Iranian music, and how sweet, lyrical and hypnotic it is! The Santour is a traditional Persian instrument. (BTW, on Wikipedia and every place else, the spelling is SANTOURI: THE MUSIC MAN...IMDb: What's Up With the Alternate Spelling?) Santouri means both player of the Santour and music man, hence, the film's title.
There is a definite dark side. Ali's pronounced slide into the most abysmal rock bottom imaginable. True, there have been numerable movies that have dealt with a musician's addiction(s), but watching a story unfold in Farsi(Persian), undeniably puts a fresh spin on this topic! Goldshifteh Farahani(Hanieh) is quite the gifted actress, displaying a versatility of range and the most fluid and natural of deliveries I have seen in any Iranian actor to date!
There is one scene, as a newlywed, where she seems to exude joy on a cellular level! Unfortunately, Santouri does have one inescapable shortcoming: The subtitles are, at times, practically impossible to follow. There are a few scenes in the film where you might want to back-skip and play at 1/2 speed to read them methodically! So outstanding, this film, that I'm planning to add it to my DVD collection. 9* dropped to 8* because of the rushed subtitles.
....ENJOY/DISFRUTELA!
