I watched the Iranian movie “A Separation” on the recommendation of a colleague. The movie is a poignant narrative of events from day-to-day life set against the backdrop of an impending divorce. As with all Iranian movies, the characters are true to life and very identifiable.
The story is simple: the wife in a household wants a divorce but is denied due to the lack of a sound reason. She decides to live for a few weeks with her parents. Her father-in-law suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and needs to be taken care of. A caretaker is arranged for him. Due to unforeseen events, the caretaker, a pregnant lady has a miscarriage while at work. How this happens and what follows later forms the rest of the story. A unique feature in the movie is that religion is not used for melodrama or indoctrination, rather it is used to remind us to be true to ourselves.
The film is the Iranian nomination for the Best Foreign Film for the 2011 Academy Awards.
