Signis

Letters to the President

(JPEG) (Canada, 2008, d. Petr Lom. Berlin Forum)

Not everyone is allowed into Iran to film the president, a hero to many of his people and a bete noir for Western governments. Petr Lom, who has previously filmed in China, received a permit to join the press corps who accompanied the president on several of his tours. He didn’t manage a promised interview with the president himself.

This brief film is actually not about President Ahmadinejad. Rather, it is about the people of Iran and how they see their ruler. Quite a number of those who speak to camera are enthusiastic about him and are vociferous in support and even more vociferous against the US. It is somewhat different when poor people in the city or in the countryside consider their difficulties. They are not always so enthusiastic.

However, the title indicates a particular point for this film. The residents of Iran have been writing to their president, millions of them. There is a state department to handle all the letters and, it is said, a high percentage of them are answered by the bureaucrats for the ruler. Sometimes the letters are practical in detail. Others are requests for help and money. Others are about policies.

Iran is a mystery nation to outsiders. This is an interesting glimpse of the people and some momentary close-ups of the puzzling president who is both religious and political, the president of a proud people who are conscious of their heritage and their right to independence.

Peter Malone