Educational Media Reviews Online

This award winning documentary by Iraqi filmmaker Maysoon Pachachi explores the extraordinary life of Masoumeh Soltan Bolaghie, the first female bus driver in the Muslim world. The film depicts Masoumeh as she makes the 22 hour, 5,000 kilometer journey from Tehran, the capital, to the port city of Bandar Abbas. In a male-dominated country where women’s choices, even what they wear, are dictated by legal and religious doctrine, Masoumeh is a symbol of change for her gender.

The film, in Farsi with English narration, includes interviews with bus passengers as they travel on the bus. It begins in the Tehran suburbs where Masoumeh lives with her family. She and her husband, also a bus driver, are extremely devoted to one another. Formerly a school bus driver, Masoumeh wished to take over her husband’s bus runs when he became ill. There are 56 cooperative bus companies in Iran that transport 1.5 million passengers a year. The women in the companies are employed as secretaries and bookkeepers. Masoumeh applied for and received a permit to drive one of the buses. Now that her husband has recovered, they drive together as often as possible. It was interesting to watch this intrepid woman as she arrived at a police inspection point and worried that her license would not be stamped because she is female. Usually her husband takes over the helm through congested city traffic.

The viewer watches the bus set out from Tehran to Qom, the holiest and most conservative city in Iran. Qom boasts a medical college with an all-female teaching faculty, quite an anomaly in this country. A brief interview with the college administrator describes how important it is for the voice of women to be heard in order for Iran to progress culturally. From Qom, the bus travels to Kashan, known for its production of rose water. A young female rose-harvester is interviewed about her career aspirations. The next destination is the mud brick city of Yadz, home to one fifth of the world’s Zoroastrian population. Zoroastrianism, a Persian-founded religion, predates Islam by 1000 years. After Yadz, the bus travels to Kerman where we see interviews with 2 sisters working on exquisite curtain embroidery. The bus then travels through the Iranian desert and features brief interviews with shepherd families. Finally, the port city of Bandar Abbas is reached. Though it resembles a small fishing village, it is actually a huge oil tanker port. It is heavily guarded and parts are off limits for filming. The film concludes with interviews of 2 of Masoumeh’s daughters who speak of their pride in their mother and their own aspirations to succeed in their chosen fields.

This film is recommended. It provides an excellent depiction of the lives of women in this ancient land. It is well organized with excellent audio and video. It would be a useful addition to libraries with women’s studies and Middle Eastern studies collections.

Awards •

• Kalamata Int’l Documentary Film Festival - Golden Olive Award, First Prize for Descriptive Documentary