Watching Films with Soroush Dabbagh

If "art" is not the most important path for thinking in the modern world, it is undoubtedly one of the best and most popular. Iranian intellectuals have sometimes been unkind to this matter and have given it less consideration. The film "Nobat-e Asheghi" (Time of Love) was one of the few films that Abdolkarim Soroush admired and acknowledged in the public sphere. The new generation of Iranian thinkers, however, has not been oblivious to this matter and has regarded "art" with favor. Soroush Dabbagh is among the thinkers who pay attention to this point and occasionally reveal their reflections on art. He believes that "artists teach human beings the contrary of habit and laugh poetically and artistically at the good and evil of the world. And woe to the time when the artist's taste becomes blind, and the ability and desire to enchant the world departs from their being, and they experience ennui and weariness." It is with this view of art that Dabbagh, in addition to music, has become attached to the novel and cinema and subjects them to his scrutiny. He has been enamored with film since his adolescence. When he was a high school student, by watching the film "Where Is the Friend's House?", he came to know Abbas Kiarostami. Around the same time, the film "Hamoun" by Dariush Mehrjui exhilarated him, and he became acquainted with names such as Dariush Shayegan and Søren Kierkegaard. He searches for his philosophical concerns in the stories of films. Ethical approaches, existential notions, an anthropological gaze, tracing the roots of Sohrab Sepehri's ideas—all are instances where Dabbagh, wherever he sees a trace of them in cinema, pauses, reflects, and analyzes. Dabbagh, who is attached to Sohrab Sepehri, has found traces of his thought in Kiarostami's works and has given his heart to it. He has spoken at length with Reza Mirkarimi and has been pleased by the parallel aspects of his thought and Sohrab's. He has given frequent consultations to Asghar Farhadi and reminded him of the various views of moral philosophers. Dabbagh's approach to cinema and the novel, however, arises from two of his main concerns. One is existential entanglements, and the other is an ethical outlook.

The Existential Approach

Whenever Soroush Dabbagh picks up a novel or sits down to watch a film, he views the lines or images through existentialist lenses. Wherever the concerns of modern man are depicted, Dabbagh, too, gives them his seal of approval. When he reads Heinrich Böll's novel The Clown, he is reminded of the category of "the experience of boredom" and evokes Schopenhauer's account of it. He considers this novel a spark on the path to dispelling the experience of boredom and tasting flourishing and inner contentment. The suffering of the human being here and now appears to Dabbagh to be such an important matter that if a novel emphasizes it or a sequence pays attention to it, it is worthy of appreciation. Seeing photographs of the late Kiarostami's wooden doors is enough to link Dabbagh's mind with the tradition in which he grew up. A tradition which, in his interpretation, is leagues away from today's urban and industrial life. From the image of doors, Dabbagh even evokes the passage of time and erosion, annihilation, decay, and the impermanence of the world. He looks upon art with such an existential approach that the image of decaying doors draws him to the point where "these images remind one of the crucial fact that some doors are chained and closed forever, and the person trapped behind them has no escape and is condemned to sit and stay, while other doors can be opened and one can taste lightness and liberation and whisper." Death-awareness is another of Dabbagh's concerns in encountering art. Through the two films Life, and Nothing More... and Taste of Cherry, two valuable works by Abbas Kiarostami, he labels Kiarostami a "death-aware" individual and praises him. The subject of death is a point that Dabbagh has repeatedly pursued and highlighted in cinematic works. In the film Titanic, too, he admires the moment when the characters' death-awareness is depicted. "The sequence where the ship is sinking, but in these chaotic and turbulent minutes, the musicians, without paying heed to what is happening around them, are calmly playing music. As if they considered playing music their inviolable duty at that time, having surrendered to the death that awaits them and will arrive in a few hours." Dabbagh sees this sequence as profoundly demonstrating a sense of surrender to fate and envies the state of the musicians in this film: "Being engaged in a task in which you are skilled and which you know, in moments when no one sees you and no future encouragement or praise is conceivable, and you know that within minutes or hours you will depart this world, is difficult and at the same time enviable." The film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is another film that has impacted this Iranian thinker. The film narrates the story of a Nazi officer involved in the killing of Jews during the Holocaust. His son inadvertently goes to the crematorium in the camp and is killed. Dabbagh, who appreciates existential concerns and struggles in cinema, considers the sequences of this film showing the burning grief of the parents of this 8-year-old child to be among the affecting images of cinema. The film Cast Away, directed by Robert Zemeckis, is another cinematic work that Dabbagh praises. In his analysis of this film, he pays attention to the point that "detaching oneself from the witnesses of one's intellectual youth and accustomed mental habits, and experiencing shedding one's skin, renewal, and liberation, is an extremely difficult task that requires much freedom, honesty, and courage. Hence, many people prefer to follow the beaten path, get by with familiar habits, and not undertake the effort to evaluate and examine their beliefs." Dabbagh, who emphasizes the concerns of the human being here and now, favors gray characters in cinema, not black and white ones. Human beings who are average, neither saints nor inherently evil or criminal. Creatures who, in Hafez's words, have a wine-stained prayer rug and a drenched cloak. People who behave according to the demands of the position and context in which they find themselves, not necessarily as stereotypically and conventionally expected of them. He considers the cinema of Reza Mirkarimi and Asghar Farhadi to possess these characteristics. Dabbagh sees these approaches as more prominent in Farhadi's cinema and gives them his approval because: "strong existentialist concerns surge through Farhadi's works, concerns that reveal the filmmaker's profound thinking and authentic existential turmoils." Soroush Dabbagh has repeatedly expressed his views on Farhadi's films. The preoccupation with the human being here and now in Farhadi's works has drawn his attention.

In his words, “if themes such as ‘suicide’ and ‘deliverance’ do not release Farhadi in About Elly, the decay of human beings on this earthly sphere, the intricacy and difficulty of moral judgments in diverse contexts, and the connection and relationship between ethics and law are the central preoccupations in A Separation.” Dabbagh deciphers the film A Separation. The symbols he finds in this film often have existential dimensions. For instance, “Nader’s father,” in Dabbagh’s interpretation, is a symbol of the tragic fate of human beings who live for a short while on this earthly sphere and ultimately leave behind all successes and failures, joys and sorrows, and with a suffering body and a heart full of eternal, unfulfilled regrets and longings, turn their faces to the mask of dust and depart the dark realm of nature. In the film About Elly, he also sees the character of Elly as a symbol of the solitary human being preoccupied with liberation from the suffering of existence. The films Hamoun and Pari by Dariush Mehrjui are also among the works Dabbagh considers aligned with the authentic existential concerns of humanity. In an analysis of the film Hamoun, he regards it as being of the kind of passionate faith that Kierkegaard advocated, “Hamid Hamoun, who is bewildered and desperate, surrounded by a multitude of comfort-destroying questions about the tragic fate of his existence, and at the same time, a tense family life and living in an urban technological atmosphere neither appeal to him nor satisfy him, having tested and wearied him, takes a risk to find an escape and freely throws himself into the sea, perhaps to attain deliverance and enjoy a pleasant state. Hamid Hamoun’s running toward the sea and surrendering himself to the mighty waves in the final scenes of the film is a symbol of taking a free and passionate risk, undergoing a leap of faith, and going to meet an unclear and uncertain future.” Such images are sufficient for Dabbagh to pay full attention and consider them in line with an existential pain, emphasizing them. The film Gold and Copper also attracts Dabbagh’s attention from this angle, because in this film, “states” (ahwal) are given precedence over “statements” (aqwal). The novel Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse appeals to Dabbagh because it evokes the strange states and feelings of modern man—states experienced by a migratory bird in this worldly life. The works of Irvin Yalom, which reflect existential concerns, also do not escape Dabbagh’s notice; he endorses them and repeatedly discusses them. The novel Wandering Island by Simin Daneshvar also draws his attention because: “it has depicted the complexity of human beings and their turbulences, ideals, bewilderments, anxieties, and existential concerns with delicacy and precision.” In cinematic works and novels, however, Soroush Dabbagh also searches for another gem—a gem he has also attended to in his philosophical views: ethics.

Moral Conceptions

Delineating different philosophies of ethics is another of Dabbagh's concerns when analyzing film and novels. David Ross believed that "moral conflicts are the most important phenomenon that occurs in the realm of ethics." Dabbagh endorses this view of Ross and focuses on the portrayal of these moral conflicts in cinema. He has found such moral conflicts in Asghar Farhadi's films. The confrontation between ethics and religion is one of the dimensions of human behavioral conflicts. Dabbagh also sees this confrontation in the film "A Separation" and highlights it. Some moral philosophers believe that even if ethics does not rely on religion ontologically and epistemologically, and secular ethics can be rationally defended, the psychological relationship between ethics and religion cannot be ignored. In the film A Separation, "Razieh" is a symbol of this kind of ethics. In his analysis of the character "Nader" in the same film, he also focuses on the relationship between "ethics" and "law." By analyzing this fictional character, Dabbagh believes that neither does law fill the place of ethics, nor does ethics fill the place of law. There is no escape or alternative to legislation and ethical living. At the same time, reflecting on these two categories is instructive and sheds more light on the eternal and indelible exigencies and complexities of human societies. Soroush Dabbagh focuses on the discussion of "justice-oriented ethics" and "care-oriented ethics" in the film "About Elly." What is meant by justice-oriented ethics is that in this approach, the concept of justice is central, and other values and moral teachings are overshadowed by the pursuit of justice. On the other hand, care-oriented ethics implies that the moral agent, before being preoccupied with matters such as justice and freedom in regulating moral relations and interactions, seeks to preserve and maintain their personal connection with others and care for them. Men tend towards justice-oriented ethics, and women utilize care-oriented ethics. When Dabbagh wants to analyze the characterization in the film "About Elly," he draws on this distinction in the realm of ethics and analyzes various sequences of the film based on this. In his analysis of the film "Hich" (Nothing) directed by Abdolreza Kahani, he also highlights another dimension of ethical discussions and focuses on the relationship between ethics and livelihood. In his view, the ethical way of life of humans in this world is closely related to their livelihood. Society is filled with people who are neither very virtuous and sanctimonious nor devoid of ethical and human concerns. By raising ethical discussions in this film, Dabbagh argues that moral education does not occur in a vacuum and has a firm connection with the way of life of humans here and now. The institutionalization of ethical mechanisms among the average people who constitute the majority of society is not feasible unless they enjoy a minimally acceptable livelihood. When Soroush Dabbagh reads the novel "The Clown," moral conflicts of humanity also spark in his mind. He recounts the important ethical point in this novel as follows: Comparing oneself with the success and situation of so-and-so is often misleading and deceptive, because comparing one's own inner self with another's exterior leads nowhere. It is quite possible that a group envies someone's position, wealth, fame, and power, because they have no access to their inner self and judge solely based on appearances and their exterior form, having no access to their inner state. Yet that person might be deeply unhappy and frustrated inside, spending their days in bitterness. Dabbagh, however, expresses the solution, inspired by this novel, as follows: "The way to salvation from melancholy in the present age lies solely in observing the sunny and rainy days of the territory of one's own existence, comparing one's inner self with oneself (not with another), adopting an 'inner life,' embarking on introspection, and seeking tranquility and joy within one's own conscience; this alone is the way forward, and nothing else." With these ontological and ethical approaches to film and novels, Soroush Dabbagh has not only adopted his own "inner life" and derives pleasure from it, but by sharing it with others, he lays a stone upon the edifice of thought and draws attention to "art," which had been neglected by intellectuals. Although he had warned that: "Beware the day when the artist's taste goes blind..." with his reflections on art, he has also recalled another warning. A warning to his peers. Beware the day when art is neglected by intellectuals...

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Endnotes

[1] The Experience of Melancholy and Inward Blooming, Zeitoon website, 95/6/17

[1] The Elm's Shadow Flows into Eternity, Andisheh Pouya, Year 4, No. 33, Nowruz 95 Special Issue

[1] What Made You Heartsick?, Zeitoon website, 95/4/15

[1] In Search of One's Origin, Shargh Newspaper, 91/6/20

[1] The Cinema of Reza Mirkarimi, quoted from Soroush Dabbagh's website

[1] See: The Experience of Melancholy and Inward Blooming, Zeitoon website, 95/6/17

[1] Discoverer of the Mine of Dawn, Zeitoon website, 95/5/17

[1] What Made You Heartsick?, Zeitoon website, 95/4/15

[1]; The Death of Each Man, My Son, Is of the Same Hue as Yourself, Shargh Newspaper, 93/11/15; also see: The Elm's Shadow Flows into Eternity, Andisheh Pouya, No. 33

[1] The Elm's Shadow Flows into Eternity, Andisheh Pouya, No. 33

[1] Ibid.

[1] The Cinema of Reza Mirkarimi, Soroush Dabbagh's website

[1] The Gray Characters of Farhadi's Cinema, Zeitoon website, 95/3/7

[1] The Strait of Justice and the Expanse of Ethics, Shahrvand-e Emrooz, Year 4, No. 83, New Series, No. 6, Saturday, 15 Mordad 1390

[1] Ibid.

[1] An Ethical Look at About Elly, Etemad Newspaper, Shahrivar 1388

[1] In Search of One's Origin, Shargh Newspaper, 91/6/20

[1] Ibid.

[1] Happiness Is Seeing Small Things, Shargh Newspaper, 89/3/13

[1] Hermann Hesse, Irvin Yalom, Charles Baudelaire; Soroush Dabbagh's website

[1] See Soroush Dabbagh's lecture on When Nietzsche Wept, Soroush Dabbagh's website

[1] Arendt, Forough, and Simin Daneshvar; Soroush Dabbagh's website

[1] The Strait of Justice and the Expanse of Ethics, Shahrvand, Year 4, No. 83, 15 Mordad 1390

[1] The Strait of Justice and the Expanse of Ethics, Ibid.

[1] An Ethical Look at About Elly, Etemad Newspaper, Shahrivar 1388

[1] The Relationship Between Ethics and Livelihood, Shargh Newspaper, 89/2/30

[1] The Experience of Melancholy and Inward Blooming, Zeitoon website, 17 Shahrivar 95

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Watching Films with Soroush Dabbagh

Author: Seyed Hadi Tabatabaei

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