Photo.
Gabbeh (Seyed Abbas Sayahi), the girl from the Iranian movie "Gabbeh
- Life is colour"
- a beautiful lyrical vision of rural
Iran!
(Copyright: Sanayeii Dasti D`Iran & MK2 Production).
The
Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf has managed to create a mystic atmosphere that seduces
you from the start. By follow the movie to the end,
you will see whether Gabbeh`s admirer manage to seduce her too. He signals his feelings
to her by howling like a wolf.
The love story
in the movie is told with strong poetic expressions and use of metaphors. The
director rise questions about Gabbeh`s role in a traditional society, itself a
brave action. She is refused to meet her lover by her tribe, and she
knows how danger it could if
she not follows the rules.
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The film begins
with a gabbeh, a Persian rug unique to the nomadic tribes of southeast
Iran
, drifting in a river. As seen
in the opening scene there is a woven carpet which depicts two figures on
horseback. When this gabbeh is washed, the spirit of a young woman named
Gabbeh, reveals herself and the story behind its patterns. She dreams about finding
the true love, but she does not
know whether the legend that is woven into the carpet will be
real one day.
Gabbeh belongs
to a no madic tribe called Gasgai. Together with her clan she
lives in spectacular scenery filled with colours. The film shows how the women
make colourful gabbehs and it's used as a metaphor for creation of life and
nature.
| Photo. Women from the Bactrians
nomads in Iran weaving (illustration photo from Travel Explorations).
|
 |
As we follow
Gabbeh and her clan on their wandering, we can observe handiwork of gabbehs,
from the shearing of the wool to the mixing of the dyes which colour it. Weaved
carpets depict the nomads life, history and
legends of the makers. Their philosophy is simple: "Life is colour, love is colour, pain is
colour and joy is colour".
The world is rich of
colours
Gabbeh
and her clan members live perfectly in harmony with the nature. The most
beautiful scene in movie is where Gabbeh's uncle, the teacher, stands in a classroom
filled with children and picks "colours" from outside the window. He displays the
colour of the sky, the ocean, the fields, flowers etc. and tells about the colourful world they
live in. According to the colours there are moments of humour, sadness and
tragedy.
| Photo. A beautiful colourful carpet
from the Luri (Lor) nomads in Iran (illustration photo from
Travel Explorations). |
 |
The movie about
Gabbeh it's a different movie. More than any other movies I have seen, this
movie challenge the viewers. In a strong symbolic way the movie give the viewers
opportunity to interpret what happens in the scenes. You have to be fully
concentrated whole the time, and it gives rooms for own adventures based on
beautiful poems and symbolic actions. It creates your own visions!
It also gives
depth to the main characters. It sets you in a different mood dependent of the
various emotions and colours. Gabbeh`s admirer follows her and her clan hidden
in the background on a horseback. The wandering reaches a climax when the lovers
take a dramatic decision. Nothing else will be as before!
The film is colourful, the
Iranian carpets are colourful, the Iranian nature are colourful, and so are the
people themselves. Better inspiration for travelling and adventures could
not be
found!
Review
by
Stein Morten
Lund, 3 November
2004
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