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Zendan-e zanan - Women’s Prison (2002) Directed by: Manijeh Hekmat Date of birth: 1962, Iran Writing credits: Farid Mostafavi Country: Iran Language: Farsi Color: Color Runtime: 106 minutes Released: 2002 Genre: Drama |
In the event of a violent riot in a women's prison in Tehran, Tahereh is sent by the authorities to suppress the revolt. She manages to crush the riot through harshness and she comes across a young girl, Mitra, who has been given a life sentence for killing her stepfather. As time goes by, Tahere's dogmatic view and attitude towards the prisoners changes and she actually becomes involved in releasing Mitra, her archenemy. The story of the movie is based in course of two decades and these two women are thrown together through contempt, hatred and even harmony. The film is based on actual facts, lightening up the various crimes such as addiction, prostitution and theft brought on the prisoners by the vindictive society.
Director's view:
I always thought that a prison is a small version of society with many of the characteristics of the society it is among and that it can reflect the economic, social and political situation of that particular society. […] As I was able to establish a closer relationship with female prisoners for my research, and as the women in Iranian prisons tolerate harsher conditions than men, the preliminary idea to make Zendan-e Zanan took shape. (MANIJEH HEKMAT)
Credited cast:
Golab Adineh
Pegah Ahangarani
Roya Nonahali
Iran’s new cinema has produced various examinations of the status of women in that country. Some of the films – Jafar Panahi’s The Circle is an outstanding example – have employed the image of prison to reflect regulatory forces on women’s lives, relating stories of both metaphorical captives of social mores and inmates of actual penal institutions. In preparing to film Women’s Prison, first-time director Manijeh Hekmat confronted the institution directly, through her concrete involvement in the lives of prisoners.
Her choice of subject matter was partly dictated by the very strictures she analyzes in the film: she found that she was able to form closer relationships with female internees than male – and that conditions of women’s detention centres were harsher than those of men’s. Hekmat sets her story squarely within the confines of jail walls, exploiting the prison metaphor by looking at the institution as a microcosm of society, complete with animosities, alliances and struggles for power.
The drama spans 17 years, tracing the erratic, turbulent relationship between Tahereh, a jailer, and Mitra, who has been incarcerated for killing her stepfather in defence of her mother. They first meet when Tahereh is called in to suppress a riot in the Tehran prison, where the jailer’s pristine quarters contrast starkly with the debris-strewn inmates’ halls. Tahereh imposes tyrannical order and the fiercely independent Mitra soon becomes her nemesis. As these two women confront and confound each other, other stories detail the cruelties – rape, prostitution and death – that face women who have fallen outside the law, as well as the reasons – political activism, drug addiction and poverty – they have landed behind bars.
The screenplay was culled from the stories of real women whose trust the filmmakers worked hard to win. The film itself, which has encountered censorship problems, is a prison break through images, a hard-edged plea for justice. Hekmat’s impassioned portrayal of the women’s spirit brightens the soul-destroying and body-crushing conditions the prisoners endure and, ultimately, her compassionate vision causes the walls to come tumbling down.
Dimitri Eipides
One day, there clearly was. A film that had been a likely candidate for Fajr, Women's Prison, was banned shortly before the festival. On the quiet, its makers arranged for a handful of foreign guests to see it in a private screening. A few minutes before we were to leave the hotel, though, the film's director, Manijeh Hekmat, ran across the lobby weeping. We soon learned that she'd just received a call from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance warning that she would immediately be arrested and sent to women's prison if she screened the film. No one was sure how the authorities learned of the showing, but some foreign guests automatically assume that most phones are tapped.
- B Y G O D F R E Y C H E S H I R E
Read more comments on the film: One two
Manijeh Hekmat has been extensively involved in the film industry as the assistant director of 11 films and the producer of five features. Women’s Prison (02) is her feature directorial debut.
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