Educational Media Reviews Online

Winner at the Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam 2000 and the Gold Medal at the International Film in Tehran 1999, this short documentary is a snap shot of a woman’s life lived in both the male and female spheres. Following the events of a New Year’s Day, My Mother’s Home, Lagoon, illustrates the complexity and difficulty of an Iranian woman’s struggle to care for her mother and to support them both.

Opening with footage of sixty-seven year old Kobra casting out her nets in the pre-dawn rain, her day is one filled with toil. She bargains with men at the market for fair prices for her fish. Kobra cleans her home from top to bottom, hennas her mother’s hair and feet, purchases and prepares items for the holiday dinner. When she finally manages to sleep, her mother wakes her to ring in the New Year with greetings and prayer and then she must leave again to cast her nets.

As stated on the video’s container, this film intends to “make a universal statement” of the difficulties facing women and the strength they need to survive. While Kobra’s life is not easy and men clearly have a dominant position in her society, the film shows this woman in a less passive role. For example Kobra owns her own boat and nets, she successfully barters with male merchants, and physically defends her fishing space and nets against two men in motored boat. The documentary illustrates to viewers that Iranian society in reality may not conform to Western perceptions. Kobra’s life may not be typical but her life is not a cloistered one.

The only drawback to this film is the lack of context. Why was this particular woman profiled? Why this locale? Why this story? It is difficult to determine what the filmmakers wanted to express. While a lack of narrator or introductory voice over does lend a sense of intimacy and immediacy to the film, having to read the video container to glean the purpose of the filmmakers is not helpful, especially in a classroom setting.

The film’s sound is clear, so the viewer can easily hear the conversations and background sounds. There is no musical soundtrack. Since the film is subtitled (with clear, unobtrusive text) the tone and volume of Kobra’s interactions with the fishermen and merchants is not obscured with background music.

Middle school and high school students would be an appropriate audience for this film, although teachers would need to provide some background information to set the film up. The documentary would compliment multi-cultural units. University students studying gender or social issues would be an ideal audience. Recommended.