Exile Family Movie
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- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
The bittersweet story told by one of the grandchildren. An exiled family from Texas to Vienna can only meet those still living in Iran for the Haj in Mecca. Everybody gathers in a small hotel room and meets for the first time after nearly two decades. There's laughs and tears and there is food. Grandma says all are too skinny.
The family members living in exile pretend to be Muslim pilgrims in order to be allowed to enter the holy cities of Medina and Mekka. There, in a small hotel room the long awaited, tearful reunion takes place. It proves to be a huge culture clash between the Muslim world and the western societies of Europe and America.
However, in the end, it is the family that counts – and they talk, laugh, discuss, sing, encourage each other, make fun, cook a lot of food, and kiss and hug all the time. Like any family, but caught in a bittersweet story as told by one of the grandchildren.
Citation
Main credits
Arash (film director)
Arash (screenwriter)
Arash (film producer)
Arash (director of photography)
Arash (editor of moving image work)
Horvát, Géza (film producer)
Other credits
Camera & sound, Arash [and 8 others]; editors, Dieter Pichler, Arash; music, Karuan.
Distributor subjects
No distributor subjects provided.Keywords
EXILE FAMILY MOVIE
/tc 10:00:04:11 10:00:08:03
This is my sister Azadeh. And I’m Arman.
/tc 10:00:09:16 10:00:12:15
You all have to visit us in Austria.
/tc 10:00:13:06 10:00:15:13
Something’s coming from below.
/tc 10:00:15:21 10:00:17:15
Hello! Who are you?!
/tc 10:00:17:24 10:00:21:01
Hello, I’m the third man!
/tc 10:00:22:12 10:00:25:14
Hello, I’m Arash. You know me.
/tc 10:00:27:15 10:00:31:16
Before this film begins I have
to prepare you for a few things.
/tc 10:00:32:06 10:00:36:03
You’ll see these and similar images
again and again in this film!
/tc 10:00:45:16 10:00:48:22
There are things that can’t be said in this film.
/tc 10:00:49:10 10:00:50:18
Don’t film so much!
/tc 10:00:51:02 10:00:52:09
Don’t film me so much!
/tc 10:00:52:20 10:00:54:19
When it’s cooler we’ll have a lot more to say!
/tc 10:00:55:01 10:00:56:03
No, please!
/tc 10:00:57:02 10:01:00:16
And most of the images in this film
weren’t intended for you anyway,
/tc 10:01:00:21 10:01:03:04
they were for my relatives in Iran.
/tc 10:01:03:24 10:01:08:19
We have a good life here, we’re happy,
there’s only one thing missing.
/tc 10:01:09:17 10:01:11:03
Our family.
/tc 10:01:11:10 10:01:20:06
All I can say is that the older I get, the bigger
a problem it’s become that I can’t visit you.
/tc 10:01:23:16 10:01:29:08
And when I see videos of you, I have to cry.
/tc 10:01:30:01 10:01:35:13
I see you in the messages you send us,
and we talk to you through the camera,
/tc 10:01:35:20 10:01:40:24
and although I love film, I wish I
could look you in the eyes now.
/tc 10:01:58:07 10:02:04:09
In 1983 my parents, my brother and sister
and I fled Iran as political refugees.
/tc 10:02:08:02 10:02:13:01
Kurdish smugglers brought us over these
mountains to the Turkish city of Van.
/tc 10:02:15:02 10:02:19:05
I was ten years old and regarded
it all as a great adventure.
/tc 10:02:20:08 10:02:25:00
At the time I didn’t realize
that fleeing into exile
/tc 10:02:25:06 10:02:29:08
meant losing our extended family,
as there’s still no going back for us.
/tc 10:02:31:03 10:02:35:24
One of my four aunts went to America
with her family, another went to Sweden;
/tc 10:02:36:05 10:02:38:12
we ended up in Austria.
/tc 10:02:38:22 10:02:42:16
The rest of our extended
family still lives in Iran.
/tc 10:03:13:23 10:03:15:17
Hello, Dad!
Hello.
/tc 10:03:15:21 10:03:19:05
Do you know where I’m standing?
No, where are you?
/tc 10:03:19:09 10:03:22:19
The place we stood 15 years ago
after fleeing from Iran.
/tc 10:03:22:24 10:03:26:12
Really? Yeah!
At the first town after the border.
/tc 10:03:26:17 10:03:31:20
OK, but don’t go too close to the border,
it’s too dangerous there.
/tc 10:03:31:23 10:03:34:10
And come back to Austria
as soon as you can!
/tc 10:03:34:13 10:03:39:04
OK, don’t worry, we’ll be careful.
Yes, never forget that!
/tc 10:03:39:08 10:03:43:16
If we wanted to, we could be in Iran
in an hour or two from here.
/tc 10:03:43:20 10:03:49:04
You’re much too close to the border.
Don’t go any closer! Come back soon!
/tc 10:03:52:00 10:03:54:11
I will, I just wanted
to tell you about it.
/tc 10:03:54:17 10:03:57:06
Thanks! See you soon.
We’ll be together again soon.
/tc 10:04:00:04 10:04:01:01
You Italy?
/tc 10:04:01:10 10:04:02:04
Austria.
/tc 10:04:02:09 10:04:03:03
Australia?
/tc 10:04:03:07 10:04:04:04
Austria.
/tc 10:04:18:04 10:04:20:24
Arash, I think it would be better if you stopped
/tc 10:04:21:01 10:04:24:09
making this documentary
about family and so on,
/tc 10:04:24:11 10:04:30:14
you should go more into creative stuff, invent
things and work on socially relevant issues.
/tc 10:04:31:00 10:04:33:02
This is important.
/tc 10:04:35:03 10:04:38:05
OK, after this film.
After this film …
/tc 10:04:38:11 10:04:41:10
Salman Rushdie once wrote something like,
/tc 10:04:41:14 10:04:46:11
if you want to write bad literature,
then write autobiographical stuff.
/tc 10:04:48:12 10:04:50:01
Mmm, tea.
/tc 10:04:53:14 10:04:54:22
Thanks, Dad.
/tc 10:04:56:09 10:04:57:19
You’re welcome.
/tc 10:04:59:12 10:05:01:21
Can you bring the sweets too?
/tc 10:05:05:05 10:05:06:02
Thanks.
/tc 10:05:07:12 10:05:11:15
Arash, you know that I taught literature in Iran
/tc 10:05:11:18 10:05:14:17
and loved my job.
/tc 10:05:14:21 10:05:20:23
Here I take care of children in the
afternoons and honestly like doing it.
/tc 10:05:23:02 10:05:26:14
When we came here and were still young,
/tc 10:05:26:19 10:05:30:10
we could have continued our studies
/tc 10:05:30:16 10:05:34:02
or done something completely different.
/tc 10:05:35:23 10:05:40:22
But you could say if I had
concentrated on myself,
/tc 10:05:40:24 10:05:45:00
you would have suffered much more.
/tc 10:05:46:23 10:05:49:07
Somehow we lived on,
/tc 10:05:49:19 10:05:52:23
and cutting out flowers isn’t so bad.
/tc 10:05:59:07 10:06:01:14
OK, do you know that this is my mom?
/tc 10:06:01:16 10:06:03:10
Yeah!!
/tc 10:06:04:23 10:06:06:06
And what’s she like?
/tc 10:06:06:13 10:06:07:21
Coooool!!
/tc 10:06:08:11 10:06:09:14
And nice.
/tc 10:06:10:03 10:06:11:02
And funny.
/tc 10:06:13:01 10:06:17:09
The years passed and after a while
our only contact with relatives in Iran
/tc 10:06:17:12 10:06:20:05
consisted of letters, phone
calls and video messages.
/tc 10:06:20:13 10:06:22:06
Arash, hello.
/tc 10:06:22:13 10:06:24:13
I miss you all very, very much.
/tc 10:06:25:07 10:06:31:03
How are you? I love you so much,
I dreamed I would hug and kiss you.
/tc 10:06:33:00 10:06:36:22
Parvin, dearest, these two keep interrupting.
/tc 10:06:38:20 10:06:43:06
Her hair’s shaped like Niagara Falls,
and she wants to go there too.
/tc 10:06:43:21 10:06:47:08
We’re sending you this film from Iran.
/tc 10:06:47:17 10:06:52:08
We wanted to remind you of some
of your childhood experiences
/tc 10:06:53:10 10:06:56:04
and send you this tape.
/tc 10:07:01:01 10:07:04:08
Children, listen to what
Maryam wrote!
/tc 10:07:05:03 10:07:08:11
Hope to see and talk to
you and your loving family,
/tc 10:07:08:16 10:07:12:15
though I don’t know what they
look like or how big they are now.
/tc 10:07:12:19 10:07:16:08
We hope to shorten the great
distance separating us,
/tc 10:07:16:12 10:07:22:02
now that we’ve torn down the walls
of loneliness by keeping in touch.
/tc 10:07:22:13 10:07:26:06
Only a short time ago, when we
heard your voice on the phone,
/tc 10:07:26:12 10:07:29:15
this strange feeling in our hearts went away,
/tc 10:07:29:22 10:07:34:16
because you weren’t here to share
our pain at losing our father.
/tc 10:07:39:15 10:07:43:05
Greetings from far away!
/tc 10:07:45:17 10:07:49:13
I wish you and your children a happy life.
/tc 10:07:50:08 10:07:54:20
Sorry again I wrote this letter
so spontaneously. Maryam.
/tc 10:08:01:03 10:08:05:21
These letters that only make
you cry are ridiculous.
/tc 10:08:06:03 10:08:08:13
Arash, tell her what this is about.
/tc 10:08:08:18 10:08:12:07
Life’s worthless when there’s no love in it.
/tc 10:08:13:14 10:08:19:12
They show us their feelings after 15
years, should they just write jokes?
/tc 10:08:21:00 10:08:26:00
When they write to us, everything
runs in our heads like a film,
/tc 10:08:27:19 10:08:31:05
all the memories of our past life are refreshed
/tc 10:08:31:18 10:08:33:24
and this makes us sad.
/tc 10:08:34:03 10:08:35:23
The Austrians feel the same.
/tc 10:08:36:19 10:08:39:01
You can see that on TV.
/tc 10:08:39:11 10:08:45:03
When a child’s lost, the mother
cries too. Those are just emotions.
/tc 10:08:47:02 10:08:52:11
In all the years the only members of the family
we could visit, except the aunt in Sweden,
/tc 10:08:52:15 10:08:55:22
were my Aunt Moti and her
son Masood in Dallas, Texas.
/tc 10:08:58:09 10:09:02:01
America’s home to the largest
community of exiled Iranians,
/tc 10:09:02:04 10:09:07:03
and the life of an exile there seems much
more entertaining and colorful than in Europe.
/tc 10:09:56:14 10:09:59:15
In business they say, you snooze, you lose.
/tc 10:09:59:20 10:10:05:15
In all kinds of business, whether
medicine, cars, competition is cutthroat.
/tc 10:10:07:08 10:10:12:12
And getting up early has
always been a big help for me.
/tc 10:10:15:16 10:10:19:17
When some exiled Iranians in California
/tc 10:10:20:15 10:10:26:01
go to a conference with their
child’s elementary-school teacher
/tc 10:10:27:04 10:10:30:05
to discuss the child’s future,
/tc 10:10:36:07 10:10:39:01
they only talk about …
/tc 10:10:40:09 10:10:47:20
Khomeini, the Shah, the revolution and so on!
/tc 10:10:49:05 10:10:53:08
They never say anything
about the child’s future,
/tc 10:10:53:15 10:10:59:02
Just that they fled Iran, and Jimmy
Carter did this and that and so on.
/tc 10:11:14:05 10:11:18:01
I’ve been watching this show for 17 years now,
/tc 10:11:18:12 10:11:23:15
and somehow it makes me think
of our family’s strange story.
/tc 10:11:24:08 10:11:29:03
It’s like a soap opera too, with
all the unbelievable things
/tc 10:11:29:17 10:11:34:06
that have happened, it’s a lot like this show.
/tc 10:11:35:18 10:11:42:24
For example Billy and Mack, on their
wedding night they find out they’re cousins.
/tc 10:11:46:14 10:11:54:24
Even if we’re never able to return because
of the problems we have with this regime,
/tc 10:11:55:22 10:12:01:00
something could happen
to us like in this show.
/tc 10:12:03:07 10:12:09:22
The family or the children would meet
somewhere and maybe like each other.
/tc 10:12:11:06 10:12:21:06
And if we’re not careful they might get married
without knowing they’re first or second cousins.
/tc 10:12:25:21 10:12:28:22
Every time I miss an episode of this show,
/tc 10:12:29:00 10:12:32:20
I think something’s happened in
our family and I’ve missed that too.
/tc 10:12:32:24 10:12:35:10
That’s why I always have to watch it.
/tc 10:13:05:16 10:13:08:17
About ten years after our arrival in Austria,
/tc 10:13:08:22 10:13:13:17
we received the first visit
from Iran, my grandparents.
/tc 10:13:14:05 10:13:17:24
The younger members of the family
weren’t permitted to enter the country,
/tc 10:13:18:01 10:13:22:05
apparently because the Austrian authorities
were afraid they’d like it here too much.
/tc 10:13:22:07 10:13:24:19
At that time I still had hair.
/tc 10:13:33:02 10:13:35:08
Are you Arash?
/tc 10:13:36:10 10:13:39:23
Do you remember when
we played in the gardens?
/tc 10:13:43:18 10:13:51:16
Of course I remember!! I’ve always hoped that
I would live long enough to see you again.
/tc 10:13:59:11 10:14:01:16
Arash, film them too.
/tc 10:14:05:13 10:14:12:15
I’m dying for you.
This is no time to cry! You must laugh!
/tc 10:14:18:23 10:14:20:24
Stop crying, laugh!
/tc 10:14:22:21 10:14:26:12
Grandmother, come up here.
She looks like Parvin.
/tc 10:14:27:19 10:14:32:01
I’m old now.
No, you’ve just gotten more beautiful!!
/tc 10:14:32:08 10:14:33:17
Come in.
/tc 10:14:35:08 10:14:41:17
Grandfather, come here, give her a hug.
Hamid, this scene needs some music.
/tc 10:14:44:16 10:14:47:21
What a day.
He was killing me.
/tc 10:14:48:05 10:14:51:17
Whenever your name
came up, he started to cry.
/tc 10:14:51:22 10:14:53:10
Who?
He did.
/tc 10:14:57:07 10:14:59:05
Grandfather, are you a girl now?
/tc 10:15:00:24 10:15:03:21
Where’s the other one?
That’s for the wall.
/tc 10:15:04:05 10:15:06:24
Eti sent it, it’s silk.
/tc 10:15:13:06 10:15:17:03
You can all go, I’ll stay with
grandfather a little longer.
/tc 10:15:38:20 10:15:43:23
I’ll feed the fish now.
I remembered something else.
/tc 10:15:44:24 10:15:48:08
When the Shah was in power,
/tc 10:15:48:14 10:15:54:01
Samad Behrangi wrote a children’s
book called “The Little Black Fish.”
/tc 10:15:55:01 10:16:02:11
It was about a fish that swam against the
stream, that was against the status quo.
/tc 10:16:06:23 10:16:11:20
You kids might find it hard to believe,
but that was one of the books
/tc 10:16:11:21 10:16:15:19
labeled dangerous and harmful,
and people were persecuted
/tc 10:16:16:00 10:16:18:06
and arrested because of them.
/tc 10:16:19:05 10:16:25:01
Being put in prison for reading a
book, that’s unimaginable in Europe.
/tc 10:16:54:14 10:17:01:19
A man by the name of Dr. Yazdi, also
known as Ahura, has appeared,
/tc 10:17:02:15 10:17:09:17
claiming that he’ll liberate Iran in the next 3-4
months, and then we’ll all be able to return.
/tc 10:17:10:15 10:17:15:21
Though it might sound
ridiculous to some people,
/tc 10:17:17:06 10:17:24:03
others want it to happen so we’ll all
be able to return to our homeland.
/tc 10:17:32:04 10:17:35:23
Dr. Yazdi plans to land in
Tehran with 20 planes
/tc 10:17:35:24 10:17:40:22
and dance through the city with his
followers to force peaceful regime change.
/tc 10:17:42:01 10:17:44:20
The whole thing sounds a little unrealistic,
/tc 10:17:45:01 10:17:50:17
but more than 8,000 hopeful Iranian
exiles have signed up to accompany him.
/tc 10:18:29:10 10:18:36:01
Oh Iran, you flowering land, your
soil is the source of all art …
/tc 10:18:53:01 10:18:56:18
Aunt, how many days are left?
Two more.
/tc 10:19:09:12 10:19:14:19
After all this time he kept everyone hanging,
he should have entered Iran today.
/tc 10:19:14:23 10:19:20:06
But instead the whole thing was called off
and he said there were plans to kill him
/tc 10:19:20:10 10:19:25:05
and that’s why everything’s been
postponed and is uncertain.
/tc 10:19:25:10 10:19:31:22
Of course everybody’s sad and angry that it
all went up in smoke after so much waiting.
/tc 10:19:32:10 10:19:39:11
Today someone else appeared, claiming that
he’s the Prophet. Soon they’ll have God too.
/tc 10:19:39:14 10:19:42:06
And now leave me in peace.
/tc 10:19:43:01 10:19:48:13
Although this revolution didn’t turn out as
planned, Aunt Moti never gave up hope.
/tc 10:19:49:03 10:19:51:24
Of course we hoped to see our relatives again,
/tc 10:19:52:04 10:19:55:02
as the separation was a
frequent source of pain.
/tc 10:19:58:00 10:20:02:14
My dear Uncle, a few things
are required for a relationship.
/tc 10:20:02:15 10:20:07:19
The most basic element
is physical closeness.
/tc 10:20:09:11 10:20:13:20
I can’t say that I miss you.
/tc 10:20:17:07 10:20:21:15
To be honest, I’d like to have an uncle I know
/tc 10:20:24:08 10:20:30:12
and can therefore understand, and
who can understand me in turn.
/tc 10:20:34:03 10:20:43:01
You’re too careful about some things. Is that
really necessary? If so, I’d like to know why.
/tc 10:20:48:19 10:20:56:16
In the Third World every intellectual’s involved
with politics, whether he wants to be or not.
/tc 10:20:58:16 10:21:04:08
That means he’ll come into conflict
with the regime sooner or later.
/tc 10:21:06:05 10:21:11:12
And then he’ll either end up behind bars
/tc 10:21:16:03 10:21:18:10
or be hanged,
/tc 10:21:19:01 10:21:24:06
or if he’s lucky he’ll be able to escape
/tc 10:21:26:17 10:21:29:23
and live somewhere else.
/tc 10:21:36:00 10:21:40:14
When the Shah was in power I
was arrested and imprisoned
/tc 10:21:40:23 10:21:43:20
because of some books I read,
/tc 10:21:45:09 10:21:49:04
I hadn’t done anything illegal!
/tc 10:21:49:13 10:21:53:19
And in my opinion I had the
right to read any book I wanted.
/tc 10:21:54:15 10:22:01:00
I was sentenced to 15 years in
prison, and was released after five.
/tc 10:22:01:13 10:22:07:05
Then came the revolution, and the
people released the prisoners.
/tc 10:22:14:18 10:22:19:13
That’s what I said to the people who harassed
and tortured me and the prison guards too:
/tc 10:22:19:15 10:22:23:01
I stand by my word, there’s
no two ways about it.
/tc 10:22:23:03 10:22:27:20
They asked me if I was prepared to stay in
prison the entire 15 years, and I said yes.
/tc 10:22:47:16 10:22:52:05
After 15 years in Austria we
had another visit from Iran.
/tc 10:22:53:03 10:22:57:16
My cousin Ghodsi managed to come
after a business trip in Germany.
/tc 10:22:57:24 10:23:01:17
It was only for three days,
but better than nothing.
/tc 10:23:21:14 10:23:24:07
Mom, this train doesn’t have a wagon no. 1.
/tc 10:24:02:13 10:24:05:19
Hello, Sister, how are you?
/tc 10:24:06:11 10:24:10:02
We’re great because she’s in my arms now.
/tc 10:24:15:16 10:24:17:07
I’m fine.
/tc 10:24:17:14 10:24:20:07
Just a second, she’s so beautiful.
/tc 10:24:20:23 10:24:23:04
Hello, Mother, how are you?
/tc 10:24:23:07 10:24:29:12
I’m here, and no fascists have attacked
me, I haven’t been kidnapped by a Nazi!!
/tc 10:24:35:13 10:24:39:00
Our cousin has arrived and
plans to leave again tomorrow.
/tc 10:24:39:02 10:24:42:01
That makes me really sad, but what can I do?
/tc 10:24:45:09 10:24:50:13
How close the woman brings the dog to
her mouth, even kissing the dirty thing.
/tc 10:24:51:16 10:24:57:05
Yeah, dogs here sometimes fulfill
the role of a child or an entire family.
/tc 10:24:59:04 10:25:02:02
That’s because of the loneliness.
/tc 10:25:03:07 10:25:08:03
Oh light of spring, greet her on her path!
/tc 10:25:10:14 10:25:13:08
This was in memory of our glorious revolution.
/tc 10:25:17:02 10:25:20:14
What will you think about when
you go back to Iran now?
/tc 10:25:20:18 10:25:24:04
I’ll think about being happy.
/tc 10:25:24:14 10:25:28:02
About the future of my children and myself.
/tc 10:25:28:11 10:25:35:07
I also think of what you said to me.
I won’t let life beat me. I’ll beat it first.
/tc 10:25:36:08 10:25:41:17
And now the Austrians are looking at
me, wondering what I’m talking about!
/tc 10:25:41:20 10:25:44:04
Till we meet again.
/tc 10:26:08:14 10:26:13:22
Life in exile became almost unbearable
after hearing that a relative had died
/tc 10:26:14:04 10:26:18:11
because we weren’t able to share
the pain with our relatives in person.
/tc 10:26:18:17 10:26:24:17
The day my father learned that his brother and
mother had died made this especially clear.
/tc 10:26:27:14 10:26:33:02
On this night of the winter
solstice, I speak of you.
/tc 10:26:34:13 10:26:39:14
I speak of you when asleep and when awake.
/tc 10:26:43:11 10:26:48:15
Oh fairy, where are you?
/tc 10:26:52:01 10:26:59:01
Why do you not show your face?!
/tc 10:27:02:23 10:27:05:05
Thank you for your feelings.
/tc 10:27:10:18 10:27:15:06
That’s my wish, to be
surrounded by my family again,
/tc 10:27:15:23 10:27:20:05
to return to Iran with all its beauty.
/tc 10:27:20:23 10:27:25:10
When surrounded by your
family you sense life.
/tc 10:27:28:01 10:27:33:22
I’d like to experience this
life again in all its facets,
/tc 10:27:36:00 10:27:38:23
from birth to marriage,
/tc 10:27:38:24 10:27:45:05
even the quarreling, the painful moments
and everything else that’s so special there.
/tc 10:27:47:08 10:27:48:23
That’s what we want.
/tc 10:27:49:00 10:27:51:20
We want to return to this culture,
/tc 10:27:53:00 10:27:57:20
to once again experience all the
things we’ve had to do without.
/tc 10:28:12:23 10:28:17:01
My father’s wishes still haven’t been fulfilled.
/tc 10:28:17:10 10:28:21:14
But new hope arose one day
when my Aunt Moti surprised us
/tc 10:28:21:18 10:28:25:06
with a revolutionary new idea from America.
/tc 10:28:27:06 10:28:31:05
Hello Moti, we kiss your hand, are you all OK?
/tc 10:28:31:14 10:28:34:11
Yes, everyone’s here.
/tc 10:28:35:06 10:28:37:16
Look, I called our parents yesterday.
/tc 10:28:37:19 10:28:39:05
And how are they?
/tc 10:28:39:21 10:28:45:21
Fine, they’re planning to go to Mecca and
they said it would be great if we came too.
/tc 10:28:47:10 10:28:51:00
I talked it over with Masood,
and we decided to go.
/tc 10:28:51:04 10:28:53:15
Do you want to come too?
/tc 10:28:53:17 10:28:55:22
Wait, wait, I’ll tell the children.
/tc 10:28:56:01 10:29:01:20
Children, your grandparents and aunts,
everyone wants to go to Mecca, Saudi Arabia,
/tc 10:29:01:22 10:29:07:22
and they asked whether we can come
too. I’m definitely going, and you?
/tc 10:29:08:18 10:29:10:09
I’m definitely going.
/tc 10:29:10:13 10:29:13:16
OK, we’ll see you again soon.
/tc 10:29:17:17 10:29:20:19
Have you heard what’s
happened? We’re going to Mecca,
/tc 10:29:20:22 10:29:26:18
we’ll see everybody, and hug our
grandparents, our aunts, all of them.
/tc 10:29:27:03 10:29:30:06
Dad, what about you, are you coming?
/tc 10:29:30:22 10:29:31:20
No, I can’t come.
/tc 10:29:32:02 10:29:32:14
Why not?
/tc 10:29:32:18 10:29:35:12
We’re careful about things like that.
/tc 10:29:36:05 10:29:37:23
Do you think there are spies there?
/tc 10:29:38:02 10:29:38:19
Definitely.
/tc 10:29:38:20 10:29:43:09
Or that our grandparents will be
interrogated when they return
/tc 10:29:44:13 10:29:47:10
and asked who they met and why?
/tc 10:29:48:05 10:29:55:24
I’d like to make sweet Iranian rice
with sour cherries for you today.
/tc 10:30:04:09 10:30:07:02
It won’t open. Just laugh.
/tc 10:30:13:04 10:30:19:16
It’s at least as stubborn and persistent as the
regime that refuses to open up in any way,
/tc 10:30:19:24 10:30:25:12
a dictatorship that refuses to
consider any kind of reform.
/tc 10:30:33:24 10:30:40:10
I’ll fight with you the same way I’ve always
fought for my ideals and principles.
/tc 10:30:46:16 10:30:47:20
Until you open up.
/tc 10:31:15:13 10:31:17:23
Arash, what do you say about that?
/tc 10:31:18:02 10:31:23:13
We’re going to see who we’ve
forgotten in the past 15 years,
/tc 10:31:23:22 10:31:28:01
who we remember and can
find. See how they’re doing.
/tc 10:31:29:06 10:31:36:05
We’ll film everything for dad if the Arabs
let us, and if not we’ll find a way.
/tc 10:31:36:22 10:31:42:02
Say hello and greet everyone,
and give them a big hug for me.
/tc 10:31:43:03 10:31:47:16
Arash, I’m so excited that I can’t speak.
/tc 10:31:48:15 10:31:51:17
If I try to I know I’ll cry.
/tc 10:31:52:02 10:31:54:17
So I’ll just keep quiet.
/tc 10:31:55:04 10:31:56:04
Bye, daddy.
/tc 10:32:03:23 10:32:06:02
I’ve already changed a lot.
/tc 10:32:06:04 10:32:10:16
Now I’m wearing a headscarf and a
dress that reaches down to my feet.
/tc 10:32:11:00 10:32:15:06
The dress isn’t bad, it’s from H&M in Austria.
/tc 10:32:22:16 10:32:28:06
After fleeing from an Islamic dictatorship,
we now had to pretend to be pilgrims
/tc 10:32:28:08 10:32:32:22
so we could inconspicuously enter
a different Islamic dictatorship.
/tc 10:32:32:24 10:32:37:08
The trip involved a certain amount of
danger. We couldn’t attract any attention
/tc 10:32:37:11 10:32:40:19
and get our relatives or ourselves in trouble.
/tc 10:32:55:12 10:32:58:20
We’re like aliens here.
/tc 10:33:02:24 10:33:04:06
Let me finish.
/tc 10:33:04:08 10:33:06:22
If they came now and arrested us
/tc 10:33:06:23 10:33:11:00
because you’re not wearing your headscarf
the right way, what would we do?
/tc 10:33:11:02 10:33:14:04
Is everybody looking at me?
Your hair’s showing too.
/tc 10:33:14:07 10:33:15:20
That’s bad too!
/tc 10:33:15:24 10:33:20:17
At least she has her headscarf pulled
down to her forehead, you don’t.
/tc 10:33:35:07 10:33:40:11
What do you think, Arman?
Is it getting on your nerves already?
/tc 10:33:43:01 10:33:46:18
No, but everything seems so disorganized.
/tc 10:33:47:00 10:33:48:23
It’s starting to get on my nerves,
/tc 10:33:49:20 10:33:56:05
the dress code, the weather, the
constant fear of being robbed,
/tc 10:33:57:15 10:34:02:03
we don’t know anyone, can’t trust
anyone, don’t speak the language.
/tc 10:34:03:18 10:34:06:23
If a woman shows a little too much skin,
/tc 10:34:08:00 10:34:09:24
everybody goes crazy.
/tc 10:34:10:04 10:34:12:08
And gets mad.
/tc 10:34:13:04 10:34:16:24
Arman, in this city there are
approximately one million people,
/tc 10:34:17:01 10:34:20:21
500 of them, perhaps, have
light hair and pale eyes,
/tc 10:34:20:24 10:34:25:02
so it’s only normal that it catches people’s
eyes. That’s why people look at me.
/tc 10:34:25:06 10:34:27:24
The men rule these Islamic countries.
/tc 10:34:28:03 10:34:32:01
Whatever, we’ll find out eventually,
nobody’s complained so far.
/tc 10:34:32:05 10:34:34:23
Yes, because we’ve only
been here for one day.
/tc 10:34:35:09 10:34:36:21
Be quiet!
/tc 10:34:36:23 10:34:38:07
I don’t care.
/tc 10:34:38:10 10:34:40:01
Why don’t you care?
/tc 10:34:40:04 10:34:43:12
Because no one can say anything, I’ve
seen so many women in the streets
/tc 10:34:43:14 10:34:46:06
whose hair was showing and who wore black.
/tc 10:34:46:09 10:34:47:24
I didn’t see any.
/tc 10:34:48:01 10:34:51:20
I did, because I was looking
for that, I’ll show you later.
/tc 10:34:51:22 10:34:53:18
You’ll have problems, not me.
/tc 10:34:53:20 10:34:58:19
No, the other way round, if you have
problems I’ll have problems too,
/tc 10:34:58:21 10:35:01:21
and it’s shitty enough here anyway.
/tc 10:35:04:17 10:35:05:21
Really!
/tc 10:35:08:10 10:35:10:23
Stand in front of me so no one can see me.
/tc 10:35:10:24 10:35:12:12
What are you filming?
/tc 10:35:12:14 10:35:15:09
Arash, I’m afraid they have
powerful surveillance cameras
/tc 10:35:15:12 10:35:19:03
and the police will storm the room
and then we’ll be in big trouble.
/tc 10:35:19:05 10:35:20:13
That’s enough.
/tc 10:35:20:14 10:35:22:07
Yes, I’ll stop in a second.
/tc 10:35:28:00 10:35:32:16
Leila, who fled to Sweden with her
children after her husband’s execution,
/tc 10:35:32:18 10:35:36:08
was the first of our relatives
we met in Saudi Arabia.
/tc 10:35:36:14 10:35:38:19
Look at her clothes.
/tc 10:35:39:10 10:35:41:17
I didn’t even recognize her.
/tc 10:35:45:17 10:35:50:01
Are you OK, my dear? He really
does look just like his father.
/tc 10:35:51:05 10:35:54:24
Stand next to Kaveh. No,
you’re not that much taller.
/tc 10:36:00:07 10:36:01:07
How are you?
/tc 10:36:01:08 10:36:02:05
I’m fine.
/tc 10:36:02:07 10:36:08:02
You can’t imagine how hard I’ve been
working to be able to do this journey.
/tc 10:36:08:08 10:36:12:16
Things are very bad for us
financially because of a bank loan.
/tc 10:36:13:14 10:36:19:18
The telephone rang at five this morning:
“Get up, it’s time to pray,” the man said.
/tc 10:36:22:21 10:36:26:11
They pray five times a day here.
/tc 10:36:29:09 10:36:33:13
As soon as the muezzin
started to sing last night,
/tc 10:36:33:23 10:36:37:10
everybody started moving
in the same direction.
/tc 10:36:37:24 10:36:40:24
Just like a wave.
/tc 10:36:41:10 10:36:44:22
Only Kaveh and I went the opposite way.
/tc 10:36:45:15 10:36:49:02
They must have been surprised.
/tc 10:37:24:06 10:37:28:24
The atmosphere in the streets of Mecca and Medina was so oppressive I thought:
/tc 10:37:29:02 10:37:32:19
If it’s like this in Iran,
I couldn’t imagine living there anyway.
/tc 10:37:37:00 10:37:41:09
We’re now at Kentucky Fried
Chicken and have just eaten.
/tc 10:37:42:16 10:37:45:24
The special thing is that
there’s a family section.
/tc 10:37:46:11 10:37:50:22
There’s a curtain so that
the women can’t be seen.
/tc 10:37:53:17 10:37:58:20
I was finally able to take off my
headscarf so that my hair’s uncovered.
/tc 10:37:59:17 10:38:03:11
I hate the rules in this country,
/tc 10:38:03:20 10:38:08:07
and I hate the men who don’t talk
to me because I’m a woman.
/tc 10:38:12:19 10:38:14:07
What number is it?
/tc 10:38:14:10 10:38:15:17
105.
/tc 10:38:15:21 10:38:17:12
That’s 104.
/tc 10:38:21:09 10:38:22:15
They're coming!
/tc 10:38:23:22 10:38:25:06
Look, that’s Arman!
/tc 10:38:25:12 10:38:26:24
I can’t believe it.
/tc 10:38:30:24 10:38:33:09
May your pain become mine.
/tc 10:38:34:21 10:38:36:06
I’m Arash.
/tc 10:38:36:10 10:38:38:20
My Arash, how are you?
/tc 10:38:44:03 10:38:47:19
Dearest, mother said you should
wear something with long sleeves.
/tc 10:38:52:03 10:38:54:15
How are you, my dear? Fine.
/tc 10:38:55:12 10:38:57:03
Are those your children?
/tc 10:38:57:10 10:38:59:24
He was so small that he got lost.
/tc 10:39:00:22 10:39:03:10
Are you taking pictures?
/tc 10:39:05:03 10:39:08:03
Put your scarves away now. That’s ridiculous.
/tc 10:39:08:23 10:39:10:21
Azy, how is this for you?
/tc 10:39:10:24 10:39:12:24
Great, wonderful.
/tc 10:39:13:24 10:39:15:21
I’m afraid I don’t know you.
/tc 10:39:16:00 10:39:18:13
I’m terrible at remembering faces.
/tc 10:39:18:22 10:39:22:12
I can only remember the
ones I know from photos.
/tc 10:39:26:09 10:39:29:00
I still love you all anyway.
/tc 10:39:50:11 10:39:52:20
You can’t wear it like that.
I’ll do it myself.
/tc 10:39:52:22 10:39:56:00
Azy, leave Leila alone, she can do that.
/tc 10:39:56:02 10:39:58:17
Everybody here wears it like this.
/tc 10:39:58:20 10:40:00:10
I’ve seen it different.
/tc 10:40:01:13 10:40:04:21
It’s pretty like that, really. It’s nice.
/tc 10:40:04:24 10:40:06:14
Take a look.
/tc 10:40:07:15 10:40:09:06
You have to wear it like that.
/tc 10:40:09:09 10:40:10:24
That’s so ugly.
/tc 10:40:11:22 10:40:15:08
Calm down. Maybe it’ll be like that some day.
/tc 10:40:15:11 10:40:17:15
You’re the woman, I’m the man.
/tc 10:40:37:23 10:40:40:02
That’s really psychedelic.
/tc 10:40:42:04 10:40:44:23
That’s too much.
OK, 22,000.
/tc 10:40:45:07 10:40:47:01
No, 20, 20.
/tc 10:40:51:02 10:40:55:09
People here don’t steal anything. They’re
too afraid of having their hand chopped off.
/tc 10:40:55:10 10:40:57:19
I wouldn’t steal anything here.
/tc 10:40:57:21 10:41:01:23
I’m always afraid that something
could fall into my bag
/tc 10:41:02:05 10:41:04:11
by pure chance!
/tc 10:41:05:16 10:41:08:22
How could anything like that happen?
/tc 10:41:09:07 10:41:12:09
Well, maybe there are mean people who
/tc 10:41:12:10 10:41:14:14
drop something into your bag.
/tc 10:41:16:18 10:41:22:03
We could listen to her for half an
hour. We love the way she talks.
/tc 10:41:25:00 10:41:28:17
We asked her if she doesn’t want a husband.
/tc 10:41:28:21 10:41:33:08
She said she doesn’t want to get
married, but she’d like children.
/tc 10:41:33:13 10:41:36:17
That was interesting, and we liked it.
/tc 10:41:36:24 10:41:39:10
If you say that in Iran, it means …
/tc 10:41:40:17 10:41:43:04
You’re sure to die.
/tc 10:41:47:00 10:41:52:06
In Europe it’s like this: Two people meet and
stay together as long as they love each other.
/tc 10:41:52:09 10:41:55:02
When they no longer love
each other, they separate.
/tc 10:41:55:04 10:41:56:23
But that’s not good.
/tc 10:41:57:01 10:41:58:14
Why not?
/tc 10:41:58:20 10:42:03:15
It is good, why should anybody stay
with a person they don’t love anymore?
/tc 10:42:03:19 10:42:07:00
You can find someone you love more.
/tc 10:42:07:02 10:42:09:15
Then you can come and
go whenever you want.
/tc 10:42:09:16 10:42:13:15
No, that’s the way it is when
men and women are free.
/tc 10:42:13:17 10:42:17:02
What should I do with Mammad,
do you think it’s time to leave him?
/tc 10:42:17:04 10:42:18:24
No, Mammad’s a good man.
/tc 10:42:19:01 10:42:20:21
I’m not that good.
/tc 10:42:21:00 10:42:22:23
I’ll say goodbye.
/tc 10:42:23:03 10:42:25:01
Then we take him with us!
/tc 10:42:48:11 10:42:49:15
Wait, dearest.
/tc 10:42:49:17 10:42:51:04
Pick up, my darling.
/tc 10:42:51:06 10:42:52:15
Hello?
/tc 10:42:52:23 10:42:58:12
Masood darling, get into a taxi
and come to Hotel Elia Sakane.
/tc 10:42:58:16 10:43:02:17
Sister, you just can’t imagine
what’s happening here.
/tc 10:43:03:22 10:43:08:03
Ask whether his mother has a chador
or if we should bring one down for her.
/tc 10:43:08:07 10:43:11:00
Moti, it’s essential that you wear a chador.
/tc 10:43:11:18 10:43:14:06
About when will you be here?
/tc 10:43:14:12 10:43:17:04
We’ll bring a chador down for you.
/tc 10:43:17:06 10:43:20:19
Don’t waste time, just
come over. See you soon.
/tc 10:43:20:22 10:43:22:05
Did they rent a car?
/tc 10:43:22:07 10:43:23:03
Yeah.
/tc 10:43:23:05 10:43:25:03
Let’s straighten up the room fast.
/tc 10:43:27:06 10:43:30:03
This is our night …
What a day this is.
/tc 10:43:30:22 10:43:35:14
Being happy means not having a care
in the world. This night will never end.
/tc 10:43:38:02 10:43:41:13
It’s the best day of our lives.
/tc 10:43:43:02 10:43:47:10
Yeah, if only grandfather weren’t so sick.
/tc 10:43:49:04 10:43:50:24
No, he’s not that sick.
/tc 10:43:51:02 10:43:55:07
Yeah, he has arthritis, there’s
nothing you can do about it.
/tc 10:43:55:11 10:44:00:08
Moti will be here in 20 minutes. They’ve arrived.
/tc 10:44:03:00 10:44:05:24
Sister dear, why are we so ugly?
/tc 10:44:13:09 10:44:15:05
Contour lipstick.
/tc 10:44:15:11 10:44:20:22
No, not for the eyes, not for the
eyes. That’s for the eyes, dearest.
/tc 10:44:21:02 10:44:24:04
I still don’t know anything about this.
/tc 10:44:24:17 10:44:28:18
What night is this night?
This night is the long-awaited night!
/tc 10:44:29:01 10:44:32:17
This house is full of lamps and candles.
/tc 10:44:33:00 10:44:38:03
Oh dearest, may she be blessed,
please God, may she be blessed!
/tc 10:44:45:14 10:44:48:02
They don’t want to let us in.
/tc 10:44:50:22 10:44:51:23
Come in!
/tc 10:45:05:09 10:45:09:08
Moti dearest, don’t cry. Laugh, laugh.
/tc 10:45:11:19 10:45:15:09
Grandfather, how does this look?
Two women at my side.
/tc 10:45:15:14 10:45:18:10
Did you leave in 51?
77.
/tc 10:45:18:14 10:45:22:04
No, according to the Persian calendar.
I don’t know that anymore.
/tc 10:45:22:08 10:45:26:03
77, and what year is it now?
It’s 99 now.
/tc 10:45:26:05 10:45:29:15
That means 22 years.
Yeah, 22 years.
/tc 10:45:29:20 10:45:32:04
That’s Pegah, Ghodsi’s daughter.
/tc 10:45:32:08 10:45:35:23
Aunt, put your headscarf away
so I can see how pretty you are.
/tc 10:45:35:24 10:45:38:15
Look how pretty she is, don’t you think?
/tc 10:45:38:16 10:45:40:14
Go say hello to Masood.
/tc 10:45:44:20 10:45:49:00
You don’t look like you’d
have such a big daughter.
/tc 10:45:50:18 10:45:53:08
We’ll have a husband soon.
/tc 10:45:54:10 10:45:56:22
No, that’s to early, she’s only 13.
/tc 10:45:56:24 10:45:59:01
Grandmother called one day and said,
/tc 10:45:59:03 10:46:02:10
“It’s too bad we didn’t do anything wrong,
so we could have fled like you did.”
/tc 10:46:03:06 10:46:07:07
Do they have good and
handsome guys like you in America?
/tc 10:46:08:10 10:46:10:15
Who says that I’m good?
/tc 10:46:11:20 10:46:15:16
I don’t know, I have my problems
with America, the people I like,
/tc 10:46:15:21 10:46:20:23
but not the administration, somehow
I always have to think of exploitation.
/tc 10:46:21:08 10:46:24:20
There are good and bad people everywhere,
/tc 10:46:26:00 10:46:30:06
but if there’s such a thing as a percentage,
/tc 10:46:30:22 10:46:34:19
then it would be 85% good people
/tc 10:46:35:12 10:46:40:09
and 15?d people for America.
/tc 10:46:43:19 10:46:49:10
In Iran the distribution would be 70 to 30.
/tc 10:46:52:13 10:46:56:18
So the Americans are proportionately better.
/tc 10:46:57:11 10:46:59:11
Well, I don’t know.
/tc 10:47:01:11 10:47:05:06
In America there are movies
they call “soap operas.”
/tc 10:47:06:00 10:47:10:01
Lots of things happen during a single episode,
/tc 10:47:10:16 10:47:16:06
such as one member of a family’s killed, etc.
/tc 10:47:17:11 10:47:23:14
When people ask me about my past in America, I tell them it’d be a lot like a soap opera.
/tc 10:47:23:17 10:47:27:24
If I told you everything
that’s happened in my life.
/tc 10:47:28:01 10:47:32:01
Mother!
What does “limousine” mean in Persian?
/tc 10:47:33:10 10:47:35:06
The stretched cars!
/tc 10:47:35:09 10:47:36:16
Right!
/tc 10:47:43:05 10:47:44:10
Who’s that?
/tc 10:47:48:19 10:47:52:15
Grandmother has a headache,
please be a little quieter.
/tc 10:47:56:08 10:47:58:15
Aunt Moti, let’s take a picture!
/tc 10:48:02:01 10:48:06:12
In America, they say “cheese.”
We say “peeeach.”
/tc 10:48:06:20 10:48:08:01
Attention please!
/tc 10:48:17:05 10:48:20:17
To celebrate our reunion Masood,
our cousin from America,
/tc 10:48:20:20 10:48:23:02
invited us to a feast at McDonald’s.
/tc 10:48:23:04 10:48:25:20
This was the first time for our relatives.
/tc 10:48:28:11 10:48:30:04
What’s this restaurant called?
/tc 10:48:30:10 10:48:32:03
McDonald’s!!
/tc 10:48:32:15 10:48:35:11
The drinks are great here!
/tc 10:48:49:10 10:48:51:19
My wonderful grandfather.
/tc 10:48:55:20 10:48:58:09
I’m very grateful to you.
/tc 10:48:58:19 10:49:00:10
Why?
/tc 10:49:01:12 10:49:05:00
Because you remember me,
/tc 10:49:06:10 10:49:11:00
and you’re filming me so
that I’ll never be forgotten.
/tc 10:49:15:07 10:49:17:15
You’ll always be there for us.
/tc 10:49:20:21 10:49:23:01
Why are you crying?
/tc 10:49:24:17 10:49:28:01
You shouldn’t cry, you shouldn’t cry.
/tc 10:49:28:03 10:49:33:10
You should laugh, laugh, not cry …
/tc 10:49:37:07 10:49:41:12
Two and a half years ago my husband
/tc 10:49:41:18 10:49:43:12
was on his way
/tc 10:49:43:24 10:49:45:18
from Tehran to Isfahan.
/tc 10:49:46:11 10:49:48:17
There he was killed.
/tc 10:49:49:09 10:49:52:24
They killed him with a bullet.
/tc 10:49:53:11 10:49:58:03
A very difficult period set in for us.
/tc 10:49:58:16 10:50:01:12
It was so hard without him,
/tc 10:50:01:20 10:50:06:17
he had been the warmth in our lives.
/tc 10:50:08:07 10:50:14:07
And even now I have to
think about him every hour
/tc 10:50:16:16 10:50:21:18
and everything reminds me of him.
/tc 10:50:24:00 10:50:30:16
I can’t think of anyone who
could take his place …
/tc 10:50:33:05 10:50:34:10
By no means …
/tc 10:50:37:08 10:50:43:21
And then his murderer just bought the court.
/tc 10:50:46:24 10:50:52:04
We weren’t even allowed into the courtroom.
/tc 10:50:53:04 10:50:56:16
And he was sentenced to only 6 years.
/tc 10:50:57:01 10:51:01:21
In prison he was allowed to
go shopping with the guard
/tc 10:51:02:05 10:51:06:02
and spend the night with his wife every Friday.
/tc 10:51:08:00 10:51:15:08
This injustice hurts me even
more than my husband’s death.
/tc 10:51:23:23 10:51:28:17
I’m sad sometimes, and when I cry,
/tc 10:51:29:23 10:51:32:10
my mother says,
/tc 10:51:32:21 10:51:38:12
“Don’t cry, your father’s fine in Paradise.”
/tc 10:51:40:01 10:51:46:10
She tells me I should say a few
prayers for him, and that’s what I do.
/tc 10:51:57:02 10:52:01:12
Then I say,
“Mom, I’m still sad!”
/tc 10:52:02:21 10:52:07:08
And then she answers,
“Then send him another one!”
/tc 10:52:07:16 10:52:12:06
I say “Allah is great” and finish.
/tc 10:52:34:10 10:52:35:22
I’m coming in now.
/tc 10:52:38:08 10:52:43:00
Your underwear isn’t allowed to show.
Then I’ll take it off.
/tc 10:52:44:22 10:52:48:16
You have to wear that lower.
Moti, where did you learn that?
/tc 10:52:48:20 10:52:51:19
I never did, I just fake it.
/tc 10:52:53:14 10:52:55:01
Give me the belt, please.
/tc 10:52:55:05 10:52:59:00
Masood, that doesn’t look right,
it’s not the right way to wear it.
/tc 10:52:59:06 10:53:02:18
And now take your pants off! We’re waiting!
/tc 10:53:17:03 10:53:22:01
Tonight I’ll ask God for
redemption for all the sins
/tc 10:53:22:07 10:53:27:04
I’ve committed in the USA
over the last 22 years.
/tc 10:53:31:11 10:53:34:06
How long do you think that’ll take?
/tc 10:53:55:06 10:53:58:17
Aren’t we allowed to?
Basically yes, you belong to the family,
/tc 10:53:58:20 10:54:02:15
but since we’re wearing these
clothes, it’s better for us to act right.
/tc 10:54:03:12 10:54:04:17
OK.
/tc 10:54:09:14 10:54:10:16
Say it.
/tc 10:54:26:24 10:54:29:03
Keep repeating that.
/tc 10:54:50:01 10:54:52:22
We’re not allowed to kiss anyone now.
/tc 10:54:54:23 10:54:58:17
We’re not even allowed to look at our
husbands until tomorrow morning.
/tc 10:54:58:19 10:54:59:13
Really?
/tc 10:54:59:15 10:55:01:01
That’s forbidden!
/tc 10:55:10:16 10:55:15:10
I was in the mosque
watching our relatives pray,
/tc 10:55:16:19 10:55:22:04
and I just got angrier and
angrier the longer I sat;
/tc 10:55:22:09 10:55:27:05
our relatives were praying so
much longer than anyone else.
/tc 10:55:27:09 10:55:33:22
When everybody else had already finished,
they would start to say a second prayer.
/tc 10:55:34:05 10:55:39:19
I got angry because all those people,
thousands of them, are sitting inside,
/tc 10:55:39:22 10:55:42:24
all covered in black, they all look the same,
/tc 10:55:43:02 10:55:47:03
and they actually believe that their
prayers can make a change.
/tc 10:55:47:05 10:55:51:09
Nothing has happened, those who
died, died in spite of all the prayers.
/tc 10:55:51:14 10:55:56:07
Kaveh’s father, Ghodsi’s husband,
and their prayers changed nothing,
/tc 10:55:56:09 10:56:01:06
and now they believe that if they pray
five times a day and waste their time
/tc 10:56:01:08 10:56:03:24
it might change the situation somehow.
/tc 10:56:04:01 10:56:08:12
This just isn’t how it is, because
if you want something to change,
/tc 10:56:08:16 10:56:11:23
you have to do it yourself,
there’s no god to help you.
/tc 10:56:17:09 10:56:22:08
She doesn’t have a TV or radio
at home, or any other pastime.
/tc 10:56:22:14 10:56:27:06
That’s how she’s learned to live, like
how you read books or go for walks,
/tc 10:56:27:09 10:56:31:13
praying, reading the Koran and
sleeping is how she fills her days.
/tc 10:56:31:17 10:56:34:24
And do you like that kind of life?
Yes, she does.
/tc 10:56:35:08 10:56:40:11
What else am I going to do?
Well, there are lots of other things you could do,
/tc 10:56:40:14 10:56:46:08
like other people, listen to the radio, read
books other than the Koran….
/tc 10:56:46:11 10:56:51:17
I do, I read other books.
Like what?
/tc 10:56:51:21 10:56:53:12
“Resahle.”
/tc 10:56:55:21 10:56:58:12
What’s “resahle”?
/tc 10:57:00:17 10:57:03:10
Resahle are religious books.
/tc 10:57:09:03 10:57:14:19
Do you think that all your prayers
over the years have had any effect?
/tc 10:57:14:22 10:57:16:01
Of course they have.
/tc 10:57:16:03 10:57:17:10
What have they done?
/tc 10:57:17:12 10:57:20:07
If they hadn’t had any effect,
/tc 10:57:20:09 10:57:24:23
your father wouldn’t have been
released from prison unharmed.
/tc 10:57:25:16 10:57:28:22
I prayed for that night and day.
Or your mother …
/tc 10:57:29:05 10:57:30:22
Can I say that?
Yes.
/tc 10:57:31:00 10:57:36:07
They hid on the roof on the house to
catch your mother and execute her.
/tc 10:57:36:16 10:57:41:23
Her friend Mahbube, who
hadn’t done anything wrong,
/tc 10:57:42:03 10:57:45:16
was caught and killed that way.
/tc 10:57:46:05 10:57:51:03
It turned out all right only
because God heard our prayers.
/tc 10:57:51:08 10:57:55:02
Don’t you think we’re not allowed to
see each other because of Islam?
/tc 10:57:55:06 10:57:59:08
No, my child, it’s definitely
not because of Islam.
/tc 10:57:59:13 10:58:07:08
It’s the will of thouse in power. I won’t
name any names so I don’t get into trouble.
/tc 10:58:12:21 10:58:18:06
Say that Islam itself is good, but doing
bad things in its name is bad.
/tc 10:58:20:22 10:58:27:08
Islam’s just empty words to us. If
we had a perfect form of Islam,
/tc 10:58:27:15 10:58:33:18
you wouldn’t have had to escape, we’d be
together and I wouldn’t have to worry anymore.
/tc 10:59:10:13 10:59:15:20
You have to visit us first. We won't
be able to come for many years.
/tc 10:59:16:07 10:59:19:21
It's Europe but nowadays
it's also similar to Iran.
/tc 10:59:19:24 10:59:25:03
There are so many of these religious
people with headscarves around.
/tc 10:59:30:12 10:59:34:19
It's no big deal, you can
wear your religious clothes.
/tc 10:59:38:24 10:59:44:01
I just need a spoon, I brought
everything else from LA, like the cereal.
/tc 10:59:46:02 10:59:48:03
Goodbye. Good night.
/tc 10:59:48:10 10:59:50:03
Give him a kiss.
/tc 10:59:53:00 10:59:58:19
Kaveh, Mammad is your father’s cousin.
They loved each other like brothers. Really.
/tc 11:00:02:23 11:00:09:18
As God is my witness, whenever I was alone
in my car for the next year, I burst into tears.
/tc 11:00:12:24 11:00:16:17
I always went to work with red eyes.
/tc 11:00:17:21 11:00:24:00
At that time I was spending 3 months in Syria
with a friend from school. Kaveh was 2.
/tc 11:00:28:19 11:00:34:20
When her husband heard about
it, he said to his 2 children:
/tc 11:00:36:02 11:00:42:02
"How can we live on now,
they executed your uncle.”
/tc 11:00:51:07 11:00:54:15
The night of his execution was the worst.
/tc 11:01:29:02 11:01:31:14
I never met your father.
/tc 11:01:33:14 11:01:37:04
Or maybe I was so little that I don’t remember.
/tc 11:01:38:24 11:01:41:19
Kaveh, does it bother you
when we talk about it?
/tc 11:01:41:21 11:01:42:22
No.
/tc 11:01:42:24 11:01:44:13
It doesn’t make you sad?
/tc 11:01:44:16 11:01:49:09
I get sad sometimes, but
it’s good when we talk.
/tc 11:02:00:24 11:02:05:04
Moti and I bought a little present for you.
/tc 11:02:06:12 11:02:11:03
It's nothing special, just something
in remembrance of our meeting.
/tc 11:02:12:04 11:02:16:07
I hope you like it.
Thank you!
/tc 11:02:19:06 11:02:24:20
Because we know that our family is
crazy about eating kebabs and meat,
/tc 11:02:25:16 11:02:28:22
we bought a little grill for each of you.
/tc 11:02:29:06 11:02:33:22
So enjoy the kebabs, but
watch your cholesterol.
/tc 11:02:34:10 11:02:39:12
Don't eat too much fattening meat.
Eat fish and turkey too.
/tc 11:02:43:04 11:02:45:23
Now who’s the oldest one here?
/tc 11:03:07:17 11:03:09:12
He has my moustache!
/tc 11:03:27:14 11:03:30:12
What’s your life in Iran like?
/tc 11:03:30:23 11:03:32:20
Are you happy,
/tc 11:03:33:06 11:03:37:23
or do you think about life abroad sometimes?
/tc 11:03:40:21 11:03:48:17
We like life in Iran very much, I think we just
wouldn’t be as happy in a foreign country.
/tc 11:03:50:19 11:03:56:10
Your parents would never have
left the country voluntarily.
/tc 11:03:57:05 11:04:01:10
We just want, like other countries,
to have more freedoms,
/tc 11:04:02:09 11:04:07:10
not with things like the headscarf,
we don’t care about that,
/tc 11:04:07:18 11:04:13:02
but freedom in other things,
freedom of opinion and ideas,
/tc 11:04:13:04 11:04:17:19
that our children can study
whatever they want at a university.
/tc 11:04:18:00 11:04:21:24
But right now things seem to
be like during the Shah’s rule,
/tc 11:04:22:05 11:04:25:23
when people weren’t always
allowed to say what they think.
/tc 11:04:26:06 11:04:28:11
Are things worse now?
/tc 11:04:29:15 11:04:35:02
Aunt, just don’t say anything
that could get you into trouble.
/tc 11:04:38:04 11:04:40:18
Do you think what I said’s bad?
/tc 11:04:40:20 11:04:43:18
We don’t know how particular they are in Iran
/tc 11:04:43:20 11:04:46:12
about what you can say and what you can’t.
/tc 11:04:46:14 11:04:49:03
You didn’t insult anyone just now.
/tc 11:04:49:04 11:04:51:15
No, I didn’t.
You just said the truth.
/tc 11:04:51:19 11:04:56:08
I just said that we love Iran, but life
would be better with more freedoms.
/tc 11:04:56:11 11:05:00:02
I don’t think that anyone could have
a problem with that statement.
/tc 11:05:00:03 11:05:02:02
Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with that.
/tc 11:05:09:17 11:05:12:15
Have you ever told
grandmother that you love her?
/tc 11:05:13:02 11:05:14:08
Very often.
/tc 11:05:16:01 11:05:17:21
Do you kiss her, what do you do?
/tc 11:05:21:03 11:05:23:18
I stroke her neck and her ears.
/tc 11:05:25:02 11:05:26:20
How do you do that?
/tc 11:05:35:00 11:05:37:09
How old were you when you got married?
/tc 11:05:37:13 11:05:42:11
When I had Aunt Moti I was just 13.
/tc 11:05:44:04 11:05:46:06
Grandfather, how old were you?
/tc 11:05:46:07 11:05:47:16
I was 25.
/tc 11:05:47:17 11:05:48:19
100 years!
/tc 11:05:49:18 11:05:56:02
Grandfather was a fine man, very handsome.
I only married him because of his looks.
/tc 11:05:57:19 11:06:01:17
How did you know she was
the woman of your life?
/tc 11:06:03:21 11:06:06:13
Because she came from a good family …
/tc 11:06:08:18 11:06:10:16
She was good.
/tc 11:06:17:23 11:06:19:02
What?
/tc 11:06:22:22 11:06:25:16
I married her for her own sake.
/tc 11:06:25:22 11:06:27:22
And now give me the camera,
/tc 11:06:28:01 11:06:29:23
I will film you now.
/tc 11:06:31:05 11:06:33:12
Grandmother, the great filmmaker.
/tc 11:06:34:05 11:06:37:09
How do you feel about grandfather and me?
/tc 11:06:38:15 11:06:41:12
I love you a lot
/tc 11:06:42:16 11:06:47:15
and I hope you don’t worry about us too much.
/tc 11:06:48:24 11:06:53:16
We’re fine. The most important
thing is that we’re still alive.
/tc 11:06:53:22 11:06:56:24
And when we miss you, what should we do?
/tc 11:06:57:07 11:07:02:08
Yes, we miss you too, but we
have to accept our situation
/tc 11:07:02:12 11:07:05:03
and see what’s good about it.
/tc 11:07:05:08 11:07:09:04
We should be happy that they
didn’t kill us, that we’re still alive.
/tc 11:07:09:16 11:07:14:22
The only thing we could be accused of is
that we had some books that were banned,
/tc 11:07:14:23 11:07:17:15
and that we were in favor
of freedom of expression.
/tc 11:07:17:23 11:07:25:14
We’ve struggled all our lives for abolition
of the death penalty around the world.
/tc 11:07:26:07 11:07:31:06
Of course it’s true that your father’s
murderer wouldn’t be executed either,
/tc 11:07:31:11 11:07:36:05
but you must bear in mind that,
according to amnesty international,
/tc 11:07:36:12 11:07:41:13
over 100,000 people have
been executed in Iran so far.
/tc 11:07:41:16 11:07:47:07
Yes, people who criticize the
government or Khomeini are executed,
/tc 11:07:47:23 11:07:51:10
but people who commit murder aren’t.
/tc 11:07:53:24 11:08:01:07
I was almost executed myself. But that
was late in my pregnancy with Arman,
/tc 11:08:01:15 11:08:08:20
and they couldn’t decide whether to execute
me before I had the baby or afterwards.
/tc 11:08:09:01 11:08:14:15
Some of them said it would be
better to execute the baby with me,
/tc 11:08:14:18 11:08:20:18
because it already carried
the anti-Islamic seed.
/tc 11:08:24:12 11:08:29:10
Listen to the flute speak to us,
/tc 11:08:31:06 11:08:36:19
as it laments the separation!
/tc 11:08:39:07 11:08:44:01
“Since being cut from a reed,
/tc 11:08:47:04 11:08:51:08
man and woman have lamented to my tune.
/tc 11:08:51:17 11:08:56:00
Torn by the grief of separation,
/tc 11:08:58:23 11:09:03:08
one breast is what I require
/tc 11:09:05:00 11:09:08:21
to describe the pain of my longing.
/tc 11:09:12:03 11:09:18:09
Everyone searches for the time
he was at one with his origin.”
/tc 11:09:34:12 11:09:37:05
Do you want to ask me something?
/tc 11:09:37:10 11:09:42:14
Yeah, I’d like to know what you like
about the freedoms you’ve experienced.
/tc 11:09:43:15 11:09:50:10
I’m happy that we can do whatever we want
here. We can be Moslems or anything else.
/tc 11:09:51:17 11:09:53:11
No one cares.
/tc 11:09:54:12 11:10:01:01
No one says, “Go there, hide yourself, your
feet are showing, your face, your hair.”
/tc 11:10:01:06 11:10:05:03
No one tells me what to do and what not to do.
/tc 11:10:05:08 11:10:12:02
And I don’t think that my life
would be better if I prayed.
/tc 11:10:13:03 11:10:17:08
You’re right, women’s lives
are restricted in our country.
/tc 11:10:17:12 11:10:22:12
That’s rooted in our religion, and we’ve accepted it.
/tc 11:10:22:14 11:10:26:16
What would happen if you said,
“I’m not a Moslem anymore”?
/tc 11:10:26:21 11:10:29:17
But I don’t want to say that.
/tc 11:10:29:21 11:10:34:04
I don’t agree with women being treated
like they were worth less than men.
/tc 11:10:34:06 11:10:39:01
Even though it’s written in the Koran?
Yes, even though it’s in the Koran.
/tc 11:10:39:03 11:10:42:22
When a man breaks into an
apartment and kills a woman in Iran,
/tc 11:10:42:24 11:10:45:22
he doesn’t get the death penalty.
/tc 11:10:45:23 11:10:49:09
Because a woman’s worth
only half as much as a man.
/tc 11:10:49:11 11:10:52:16
He isn’t executed until he kills two women.
/tc 11:10:52:18 11:10:57:13
I don’t like that. What’s the difference
between the life of men and women?
/tc 11:11:03:10 11:11:07:01
Do you dance when you visit someone?
/tc 11:11:07:06 11:11:12:19
No, not in a room with men, but we
sometimes do when we women are alone.
/tc 11:11:12:23 11:11:15:12
I can’t really dance myself.
/tc 11:11:15:15 11:11:19:09
They only dance in the dark, not in front of men!
/tc 11:11:19:13 11:11:21:24
The children are more likely to dance.
/tc 11:11:22:04 11:11:24:22
Whoever can dance just does it.
/tc 11:11:25:01 11:11:27:08
Can you do that here too?
/tc 11:11:27:12 11:11:30:19
Of course, that too.
I’d like to learn how to do that.
/tc 11:11:31:00 11:11:37:18
OK, put your three fingers here. Press down
and put your index finger on the top of them.
/tc 11:11:38:23 11:11:43:08
Right, and now snap it
down. Did you hear that?
/tc 11:11:46:06 11:11:48:17
Oh, now I can just hear it!!
/tc 11:12:05:02 11:12:08:18
Life has changed completely
through this journey.
/tc 11:12:09:08 11:12:13:11
Now there isn’t just you,
Arman and our parents,
/tc 11:12:14:03 11:12:19:23
but also the aunts, all the
others, simply a whole family.
/tc 11:12:22:02 11:12:28:01
It’s marvelous, but also difficult, because
then you’re missing a lot more people.
/tc 11:12:28:09 11:12:33:10
It hurts when you’re not free
to see the people you love.
/tc 11:12:38:18 11:12:41:01
Today we have to be happy.
/tc 11:12:42:21 11:12:46:00
Yes, beauties, enjoy it till next time.
/tc 11:12:46:23 11:12:50:11
The sea is our love! Clap your hands.
/tc 11:12:50:15 11:12:53:06
The girls of Ahwas.
/tc 11:12:54:10 11:12:57:18
They coquettishly leave their houses in droves.
/tc 11:12:58:00 11:13:03:09
Their braids tousled, laughing
and gay, tall and beautiful.
/tc 11:13:03:20 11:13:07:05
Happy are those who died and
have not heard our voices.
/tc 11:13:31:05 11:13:35:01
He wears the same kind of
underwear his father liked.
/tc 11:13:36:13 11:13:41:06
Ghodsi! Pull your scarf
forward and cover your arms!
/tc 11:13:49:09 11:13:52:01
Being free is the best thing.
/tc 11:13:52:08 11:13:55:04
As long as we aren’t, they can go to hell.
/tc 11:13:58:23 11:14:01:18
Back to our exile. Goodbye!
/tc 11:14:06:17 11:14:08:06
Ouch, my nose!
/tc 11:14:09:05 11:14:14:05
And I’m happy to have found a new
brother – and a bald one at that!
/tc 11:14:14:12 11:14:18:20
When I visit you in Germany,
you still have to be bald!
/tc 11:14:20:06 11:14:23:08
I’m trying to get a Green Card for you
/tc 11:14:23:14 11:14:28:21
so that you can get on a plane in
Isfahan and land right in America.
/tc 11:14:29:06 11:14:31:14
You know what I want?
/tc 11:14:31:16 11:14:32:18
What?
/tc 11:14:33:14 11:14:40:00
I want you to have our
house when we’re gone.
/tc 11:14:41:04 11:14:46:08
So that strangers don’t get it.
/tc 11:14:50:11 11:14:56:01
Father, we don’t care about the house,
we just want you to be with us.
/tc 11:14:56:10 11:15:03:15
And there’s another thing: Grandmother
shouldn’t be left alone, I have to stay with her.
/tc 11:15:03:22 11:15:06:21
Even though I can’t do anything at home,
/tc 11:15:07:03 11:15:12:05
at least I’ll still be able to get something
from the grocery store once a day.
/tc 11:15:12:13 11:15:16:01
Father, don’t say things like
that, you’re making us sad.
/tc 11:15:16:09 11:15:20:09
Brother, don’t worry, we’ll
be here for a long time.
/tc 11:15:25:16 11:15:27:17
God bless you, my son!
/tc 11:15:29:21 11:15:34:18
I hope you become a good
doctor so we’re proud of you!
/tc 11:15:35:18 11:15:37:18
I’ll become a doctor for you.
/tc 11:15:37:23 11:15:39:05
God willing!
/tc 11:15:41:06 11:15:42:11
My child.
/tc 11:15:46:02 11:15:49:13
Daddy, you said that you
love me more than her!
/tc 11:15:52:02 11:15:55:00
Don’t be sad anymore and don’t cry.
/tc 11:15:55:01 11:15:58:19
The last time we said goodbye
to each other was much worse.
/tc 11:15:58:21 11:16:02:23
The day I fled Iran I put on my
worst clothes, so that the people
/tc 11:16:03:00 11:16:06:18
who torture me in prison
wouldn’t find anything valuable.
/tc 11:16:07:06 11:16:13:01
That’s how little hope I had for our survival.
But we did survive and you survived too.
/tc 11:16:13:09 11:16:19:03
In the hope that we’ll see even better
days, wherever we meet in the world.
/tc 11:16:19:20 11:16:22:11
Don't go tonight please!
/tc 11:16:22:16 11:16:26:14
And don't go tomorrow or the day after!
/tc 11:16:39:14 11:16:43:11
Don’t cry, don’t cry!
/tc 11:16:45:20 11:16:50:18
Keep laughing, keep laughing, laugh!
/tc 11:17:01:17 11:17:08:07
When we were back in Vienna my father could
watch the family reunion in hours of videotape.
/tc 11:17:23:21 11:17:27:07
In the following years our
lives continued as usual.
/tc 11:17:27:18 11:17:33:10
Our relatives in America had already
found new hope for returning to Iran:
/tc 11:17:33:23 11:17:35:17
George W. Bush.
/tc 11:17:47:10 11:17:50:02
The exiled Iranians like Bush
/tc 11:17:50:09 11:17:56:00
because he said that the Iranian
government belongs to the Axis of Evil.
/tc 11:17:56:15 11:18:02:09
Now they hope that Bush will help
bring down the Islamic regime
/tc 11:18:02:18 11:18:08:09
just like he changed the Afghani government.
/tc 11:18:19:14 11:18:21:16
What are you doing, Dad?
/tc 11:18:22:02 11:18:26:12
I’m writing … some things.
/tc 11:18:28:07 11:18:32:20
Can you imagine that, after 26
years, I’ve just now found the time
/tc 11:18:32:24 11:18:37:24
to write down certain episodes from
when I spent 5 years in prison?
/tc 11:18:38:02 11:18:39:22
I’ve never had the time.
/tc 11:18:40:00 11:18:41:23
What have you done in all that time?
/tc 11:18:42:02 11:18:45:05
Well, dealing with all the problems of life.
/tc 11:18:46:12 11:18:53:04
Fleeing from Iran, always having to
hide, going from one city to the next.
/tc 11:18:54:03 11:18:59:11
Then fleeing the country with
the children and so on.
/tc 11:19:05:18 11:19:11:09
I’ve never gotten around to it until
now. It’s late, but not too late.
/tc 11:19:11:17 11:19:15:23
And everyone should write down
these experiences from prison,
/tc 11:19:16:06 11:19:20:21
Because they’re part of the history
of countries under a dictatorship.
/tc 11:19:59:21 11:20:01:23
And that’s my beloved father.
/tc 11:20:02:10 11:20:06:13
It was wonderful.
We enjoyed everything very much.
/tc 11:20:08:23 11:20:11:08
Yes, it was very good.
For you!
/tc 11:20:11:15 11:20:13:13
For you too!
/tc 11:20:13:14 11:20:15:15
Yeah, but I did it for you all too.
/tc 11:20:24:00 11:20:25:02
Hello.
/tc 11:20:25:09 11:20:29:06
Parvin, my dear, I love you.
/tc 11:20:29:13 11:20:32:03
We miss you all so much.
/tc 11:20:34:06 11:20:37:06
My child, your father has left us.
/tc 11:20:38:00 11:20:44:23
Grandfather has disappeared, I’ve looked
through all the rooms and the garden,
/tc 11:20:46:13 11:20:48:14
but he’s gone.
/tc 11:20:51:20 11:20:55:15
I wanted to know if
you have any instructions.
/tc 11:20:55:20 11:20:58:03
Did you order the flowers?
/tc 11:20:58:14 11:21:01:23
We want there to be flowers
from each one of us.
/tc 11:21:02:03 11:21:06:15
And from every child: Arman, Arash,
Azadeh, Masood, Mehrdad and Mehran.
/tc 11:21:06:17 11:21:08:05
Isn’t that a little much?
/tc 11:21:09:18 11:21:14:08
It doesn’t matter. They should
be top quality and honorable.
/tc 11:21:15:19 11:21:19:11
Please make sure that
everything’s worthy of my father
/tc 11:21:19:20 11:21:22:22
and there’s not too little of anything.
/tc 11:21:24:08 11:21:28:09
Of course not. Two hundred
people ate here yesterday.
/tc 11:21:29:18 11:21:34:17
100 the day before and there
will be another 100 tomorrow.
/tc 11:21:43:02 11:21:49:09
Unfortunately, Aunt Moti received the Green Cards for my grandparents after my grandfather died.
/tc 11:21:49:13 11:21:54:16
But at least my grandmother can
visit her without any trouble now.
/tc 11:21:58:02 11:22:02:19
Sometimes the children made me angry.
/tc 11:22:03:24 11:22:09:00
Whenever mother told him to
punish us, he always said,
/tc 11:22:09:02 11:22:12:13
“They’re girls, I’ll never punish them.
/tc 11:22:12:19 11:22:16:23
Who knows who they’ll end
up with when they’re married.
/tc 11:22:19:08 11:22:21:20
I want them to like it here.
/tc 11:22:22:03 11:22:25:14
They should do what they
want, they should be free.
/tc 11:22:25:18 11:22:28:15
Don’t make me punish them.”
/tc 11:22:28:24 11:22:33:18
And because we were girls, he didn’t
even want to raise his voice to us.
/tc 11:22:34:07 11:22:40:06
We’ll never forget these things, and
he’ll always live on in our hearts.
/tc 11:23:09:17 11:23:11:15
I don’t speak English!
/tc 11:23:11:20 11:23:14:03
That’s no problem, I’ll translate for you.
/tc 11:23:14:16 11:23:21:09
Well, this Nicky used to be Jack’s wife.
He works for Victor’s company …
/tc 11:23:22:03 11:23:25:14
The man who became
friends with this woman?
/tc 11:23:26:01 11:23:29:20
Before that he had an accident
/tc 11:23:30:04 11:23:34:03
and lost what was in his pocket.
/tc 11:23:34:18 11:23:38:24
He landed in a village and met another woman.
/tc 11:23:39:19 11:23:43:07
But how’s that possible, that he has
a wife and meets another woman?
/tc 11:23:43:10 11:23:46:02
Wait, let me finish first.
/tc 11:23:46:24 11:23:52:13
He was dating this blind woman,
and after a while they fell in love
/tc 11:23:52:20 11:23:56:12
and decided to get married.
/tc 11:23:56:18 11:23:58:07
Are they allowed to do that?
/tc 11:23:58:14 11:24:02:20
By then he had already split up with
Nicky. So she wasn’t his wife anymore.
/tc 11:24:03:00 11:24:06:10
No, you can’t be married to two
women at the same time here.
/tc 11:24:10:06 11:24:13:17
They’ve already been married several times,
/tc 11:24:14:05 11:24:18:19
and Nicky married Jack once,
/tc 11:24:19:10 11:24:22:18
then Brad, who’s now married to Ashley.
/tc 11:24:24:00 11:24:25:14
He was married three times?
/tc 11:24:25:16 11:24:26:16
More than that.
/tc 11:24:33:17 11:24:37:23
We had more visitors after
the Saudi Arabia trip too.
/tc 11:24:38:07 11:24:42:19
The family, because of that meeting,
had truly come together again.
/tc 11:24:43:19 11:24:46:18
Arash, I think they’re coming from this side.
/tc 11:24:47:10 11:24:49:04
Why’s that?
/tc 11:24:49:12 11:24:51:24
Because I’m a leftist!
/tc 11:25:03:19 11:25:07:21
We can kiss men here as often as we want.
/tc 11:25:14:09 11:25:16:23
You’re a flower yourself. Thanks.
/tc 11:25:18:07 11:25:24:01
Aunt, do you remember me? Have I changed
very much, except for my bald spot?
/tc 11:25:25:04 11:25:27:16
You haven’t grown very much.
/tc 11:25:28:02 11:25:30:11
Well, maybe I haven’t stopped yet.
/tc 11:25:30:17 11:25:34:19
I promised the children that I wouldn’t
become westernized too fast.
/tc 11:26:02:08 11:26:04:09
So you have nightingales here too?
/tc 11:26:04:12 11:26:06:03
Yes, lots of them!
/tc 11:26:06:07 11:26:08:11
Nobody complains that water drips?
/tc 11:26:08:14 11:26:11:05
They have, but I don’t let it drip.
/tc 11:26:11:09 11:26:14:24
A Yugoslav lives downstairs
and his handicapped wife
/tc 11:26:15:03 11:26:19:23
always goes crazy right away
if even a single drop falls.
/tc 11:26:20:24 11:26:23:07
It’s very pretty.
/tc 11:26:23:24 11:26:29:18
If we ever moved out of here, this
view is the only thing we’d miss.
/tc 11:26:31:03 11:26:33:17
There’s a little pond right nearby.
/tc 11:26:34:07 11:26:39:08
Did you know that Austria is the
fifth greenest country in the world?
/tc 11:26:46:03 11:26:52:01
A few years after our trip to Saudi Arabia
my cousin Ghodsi emigrated to Canada,
/tc 11:26:52:07 11:26:55:23
hoping she could offer her
children more freedom there.
/tc 11:27:11:05 11:27:14:23
Chairs like this are free for the taking in Iran,
/tc 11:27:15:09 11:27:18:14
they want 40 dollars for them here.
/tc 11:27:19:06 11:27:22:15
That’s right, I’ve seen them
on the garbage dump.
/tc 11:27:23:03 11:27:24:09
Leave me alone!
/tc 11:27:46:10 11:27:51:16
Now I’m happy here in Canada,
it was really hard at first
/tc 11:27:52:08 11:27:57:23
because we didn’t know anybody
except for a lawyer friend of ours
/tc 11:27:58:16 11:28:04:16
who took care of our immigration.
We didn’t know anything about Canada.
/tc 11:28:06:16 11:28:11:13
But now I’m satisfied, I’ve been to Iran
several times since we moved here,
/tc 11:28:11:16 11:28:15:00
and I’ve seen that the
problems there are major,
/tc 11:28:15:03 11:28:19:17
that’s why I’m very happy I decided
to bring my children here.
/tc 11:28:19:22 11:28:23:06
Every morning I kiss and thank her.
/tc 11:28:23:14 11:28:25:09
She’s laughing …
/tc 11:28:26:11 11:28:29:08
Don’t I do that every day?!
/tc 11:28:33:05 11:28:34:21
Thank you!
/tc 11:28:41:11 11:28:45:18
Life's difficult, not easy.
/tc 11:28:47:19 11:28:52:18
And I don't expect
that it'll get easier for me,
/tc 11:28:55:11 11:29:00:05
but you can't just give up
because it's difficult.
/tc 11:29:01:09 11:29:06:19
You have to live with that until
some things get easier,
/tc 11:29:07:00 11:29:09:20
though others never will.
/tc 11:29:10:03 11:29:14:06
You have to keep trying, as people say here.
/tc 11:29:41:20 11:29:43:15
Ah, now we’re connected!
/tc 11:29:43:20 11:29:46:02
Come here, everyone!
/tc 11:29:46:07 11:29:47:15
Eti, my love!
/tc 11:29:47:24 11:29:49:14
Hello. How are you?
/tc 11:29:51:24 11:29:53:15
Hello, dear Aunt.
/tc 11:29:54:18 11:29:56:13
You have to talk into here.
/tc 11:29:56:16 11:29:58:16
Hello, Sepideh, my love.
/tc 11:29:59:20 11:30:01:06
Can you hear me now?
/tc 11:30:01:09 11:30:03:02
It’s OK now, repeat it please.
/tc 11:30:03:07 11:30:06:02
Everyone is here now. Look at mom!
/tc 11:30:06:07 11:30:07:24
Hello, Pegah!
/tc 11:30:08:09 11:30:10:18
Can you see my picture now?
/tc 11:30:11:02 11:30:12:12
Look at me,
/tc 11:30:12:23 11:30:15:18
I’m drinking tea to your health.
/tc 11:30:15:22 11:30:18:15
Yes, we can see you. Grandmother!
/tc 11:30:18:23 11:30:24:09
I hope the day will come when I’m still alive
and can sit together with all my children
/tc 11:30:24:17 11:30:29:14
and we can drink tea together so
we’re surrounded by warmth.
/tc 11:30:29:20 11:30:35:02
That I don’t suffer anymore from this
separation. Your father died from this.
/tc 11:30:35:08 11:30:41:10
He always said: “It isn’t the pain I’m dying
from, it’s the distance from my children.”
/tc 11:30:41:21 11:30:47:06
Is there any hope that the situation in
Iran will change so we can come back?
/tc 11:30:47:20 11:30:51:15
So that we can sit on the
veranda and drink tea together?
/tc 11:30:52:07 11:30:54:20
God willing, God willing.
/tc 11:30:55:19 11:30:59:23
Everybody here’s drinking vodka
while we’re still having tea.
/tc 11:31:00:17 11:31:05:05
You’ve inspired me with your hair,
I’ll curl mine too, for tomorrow.
/tc 11:31:06:00 11:31:11:01
I have to hang up and make
dinner now. Goodbye!
/tc 11:31:13:17 11:31:16:17
That’s what I wish for you too.
/tc 11:31:17:06 11:31:19:00
Greetings to everyone.
/tc 11:31:19:09 11:31:20:21
Goodbye.
/tc 11:31:34:10 11:31:37:16
A family’s like a hand.
/tc 11:31:38:08 11:31:41:15
Each member’s a finger.
/tc 11:31:42:12 11:31:45:22
The father’s the thumb,
/tc 11:31:46:13 11:31:49:15
he’s the first finger.
/tc 11:31:50:10 11:31:56:01
The next finger points things
out, this is the mother,
/tc 11:31:56:09 11:31:58:17
the woman of the house.
/tc 11:31:58:23 11:32:02:15
The next finger’s the brother,
/tc 11:32:02:23 11:32:06:08
he sits next to the mother.
/tc 11:32:06:21 11:32:09:24
And who comes next?
/tc 11:32:10:20 11:32:14:07
Right, the sister.
/tc 11:32:15:12 11:32:18:12
I’m the last one,
/tc 11:32:19:20 11:32:22:01
the little finger.
/tc 11:32:22:07 11:32:25:22
Have you seen all the fingers now?
/tc 11:32:26:02 11:32:29:21
We five fingers belong together
/tc 11:32:30:10 11:32:34:01
and share joy and pain.
/tc 11:32:34:07 11:32:37:12
Even though we’re separate,
/tc 11:32:39:24 11:32:42:15
together we can form a fist.
