User Reviews

I've seen this short film on the Sundance Channel in the US a couple of times, and it has an intriguing premise.

Tina, a 29 year old Iranian born film director visits her mother and her birth country of Iran for the first time in 23 years. We learn that Tina's mother sent her away to be raised by her father in the West at the age of six, and one of Tina's goals in the film is to get her mother to confess to the reason of why. The first third of the film is a little dull, showing Tina's mother profess her love for her daughter over and over and over, and then showing some mundane stuff like greeting all the relatives she hasn't seen in 23 years, and playing cards with them.

The rest of the film is much more involving, with Tina desperately searching for the truth as her mother remains elusive with her answers while Tina's time in Iran grows short. Tina uses techniques other than direct discussion to try to find an answer, including having her and her mother role play each other, and using two actresses to act out their relationship while they watch and prompt the actresses with things they want to say. Yet, despite all these attempts, Tina's mother never really gives a satisfactory answer, eventually falling back on "Iranian Divorce Law" and "I wanted you to get a better education" arguments. Personally, I suspect that the answer given by Tina's grandmother is probably the closest to the truth, that when Tina's mother was getting remarried she didn't want to spoil the new marriage by bringing a child from the previous marriage.

Personally, this stuff rings true to me. When I was growing up my parents did a lot of things they would not be proud of, and years later they would deny things when they could, and make up false reasons for their actions when they could not deny them. After a couple of decades of putting their past actions out of their minds and lying to themselves about their reasons, I suspect that they probably didn't remember their true reasons. And this is a point that Tina finally makes and even states.

Tina also discusses other issues with her mother like how difficult it was to grow up without her mother, and how difficult it was to be Iranian born and grow up in the UK and USA, especially during a period when the peoples of Iran and the US truly hated and vilified each other. And finally, Tina reveals the other reason for her visit, to tell her mother in person that she is a lesbian.

Overall... a lot of human truth in a low budget short film.