The Lizard (2004)

A recently jailed petty thief disguises as a Mullah and succeeds in escaping; but has to stay in the Mullah' role longer than he expected to.

Director:

Kamal Tabrizi

Writer:

Peyman Ghassemkhani

Stars:

Parviz Parastui, Bahram Ebrahimi, Shahrokh Foroutanian

4 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Parviz Parastui	...	Reza Marmoulak
Bahram Ebrahimi	...	(as Bahram Ibrahimi)
Shahrokh Foroutanian	...	Hajji Reza Ahmadi
Farideh Sepah Mansour	...	Motazedi's Mother
Maedeh Tahmasebi	...	Ozra
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ali Abedini	...	Jackson
Ra'na Azadivar	...	Fayezeh (as Rana Azadvar)
Cyrus Hemati	...	Mojtaba
Reza Mirzaei	...	Amir Mohammadi (as Reza Mirzaeifar)
Farzin Mohades	...	The Soldier with Sunglasses
Mehran Rajabi	...	Shojaei
Soheyla Razavi	...	Fayezeh's Mother
Sepehr Rezanoor	...	The boy
Reza Saeedi	...	Atef
Amin Salahloo	...	Yaser

Storyline

Satirical commentary on clergymen in post-revolutionary Iran. While in prison, petty criminal Reza (Parviz Parastui) comes across a clergyman, sparking a plan for escape. Reza dons his new acquaintance's clerical robes and makes a bid for freedom. He soon learns that being a clergyman brings little respect from the public. Reza travels to the outlying villages, from where he plots to escape the country. However, his plans must be put on hold when the villagers accept him into their community and expect him to perform religious duties. Will Reza's prison break transform him into an unlikely pillar of the community?

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Plot Keywords:

disguise | mullah | mosque | black comedy | assumed identity | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

IMVBox.com sourehcinema

Country:

Iran

Language:

Persian

Release Date:

24 February 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Lizard

Filming Locations:

Tehran, Iran

Company Credits

Production Co:

Faradis

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film satirizes the clergy, religion, Iranian society, and life in general.

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Quotes

Reza Marmoulak: There are as many ways to reach God as there are people in the world.

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Connections

References Pulp Fiction (1994)

User Reviews

One of the best Iranian movies, but for an Iranian audience

Summary: One of the best Iranian movies ever made, but for an Iranian audience only.

Marmoulak is a political/social satire, but its comedy is subtle and better understood by an Iranian audience. I'd like to compare it to "Blazing Saddles", often cited by American movie watchers as one of the funniest movies ever made, while a non-American audience is only mildly amused by it. Cultural differences play a big role.

Marmoulak's power of humor lies in the comments, words, situations and overall behaviour of the characters, which are not always understandable to the non-Iranian crowd. For instance, many of the seemingly innocent comments in the movie are copied or distorted very cleverly from the political/religious slogans, speeches and actions of Iran's religious clergy. Those parts are easily identifiable and enjoyable by Iranians, while non-Iranians may not quite understand the subtlety of it.

That said, the movie is powerful, enjoyable and with brilliant acting. The story is quite simple and has been repeated in many forms before. A jailed thief seizes upon a chance encounter to escape from prison using the stolen clothes of a clergyman. With Prison's warden (depicted as a despotic maniac) after him, he escapes to a border village where the local people think he has been sent for preaching in their mosque. The rest of the movie depicts the thief's efforts to find a way across the border, while playing the role of an unconventional preachers who actually plays a huge role in the life of the villagers.

Parviz Parastooi plays the lead role in a breathtakingly magnificent way, and this fact is again only obvious to an Iranian audience who know exactly the class of people he is trying to portrait. The movie has a good pace; in contrast with other well known Iranian movies such as Kiarostami's and Panahi's works that are typically very slow. Dialogues are extremely clever.

Given 9 out of 10 by this reviewer.