All about Baha'i: Mohsen Makhmalbaf's odd father & son documentary, THE GARDENER

If a new film called THE GARDENER isn't one of the weirder hybrid documentaries in quite awhile, I'll be surprised. Paid for, I'd guess, by the Committee to Make the Baha'i Religion a Household Word, this nearly (and oddly) humor-free mockumen-tary supposedly tracks the adventures of an Iranian father/
son team as it visits Israel and the huge and beautiful garden taken care of by a disciple of the Baha'i religion, who is happy -- as are all the other acolytes rounded up by the filmmakers -- to give us a grounding in this unusual religion, which appears determined to keep itself abreast of modernity in a changing world. Amen to that, as too many religions seem content to continue mimicking the dark ages.

One of the special enjoyments that go along with a blog (and a no-paying job) like this one is the fact that you can move from covering a sleaze-fest such as The Canyons one day to a film about religion and the betterment of the world the next. Where else could your interest move from A to Z so quickly? Unfortunately in this case, neither film is very good. The writer/director of The Gardener is Mohsen Makhmalbaf, shown at left, who earlier gave us Kandahar and The Silence. Here he is trying something quite different: style-wise, you might call it a kind of hybrid documentary in which father and son explore a religion new to them, as it is banned in their home country of Iran.

So, then, we have what the press materials refer to as "a poetic exploration of religion, in particular the Baha’i faith, in today's world, told from two distinct perspectives: that of the director, and of the cinematographer, his son Maysam, as they travel to make a documentary as Iranians in Israel."

This could be quite something -- if we got much of a sense of what the religion actually comprises. But its adherents we meet here are content to give us generalities and breathless praise. It is to be commended that this religion understands how the world, and it, must change: Baha'i is in favor of the emancipation of women, but do we really to see and hear a schlocky "tree" metaphor being taught to children by one of these adherents?  (Later we are told that "Flowers don't fight." Well, no: they're flowers.) Clearly this religion is less power-hungry than most -- which is great, but also probably accounts for its being such a marginal player.

What's worse, that gardener (above) that the film supposedly "follows" is little more than a cipher about whom we learn the basics and that's it (he's a tenth-generation Baha'i from Papua New Guinea). Actually, there are two gardeners shown here, the other a young man of mixed race who also tends the lovely grounds.

Stylistically, it's all pretty much hand-held with occasional use of a stationery camera. But there are two oddities along the way. One is a back-and-forth movement from color to black-and-white, which at first I thought indicated a kind of dream sequence. But as it is used so often, I think not. Why is it used at all? I have no idea.

A better and more unusual surprise comes toward the finale, when someone, that gardener or the director, makes reference, maybe re religion, to images and/or mirrors. Suddenly mirrors are being used all over the place, from garden (above) to seashore (below), and how they make a frame within the frame is quite interesting. The quality of the color even seems to change slightly in the mirror.

Nearly an hour into this 82-minute movie, son (below) grows annoyed with dad, whom he insists is making a movie to promote religion. So off he goes to the local bazaar and then explores the famous church, mosque and wall that serve as major symbols for, respectively, Christians, Muslims and Jews. He wonders aloud why god would have planted these places of worship so close together. "Wasn't there enough space in the world? Didn't he (Editor's note: yup, it's the male gender) know that his believers would not make good neighbors?"

It seems to me that here was an opportunity to really explore religion and belief, or maybe just to explore that amazing garden -- wait till you see the gorgeous pansies on view! -- and find out more about either or both. Instead we get mostly rudimentary babble, and a few generation-gap moments (son wants speed and maybe casting Brad Pitt as the gardener; dad opts for moment-to-moment reality). We do learn a bit about a religion that's probably worth knowing. Otherwise, the film offers what we would have called, back in the day, diddly-squat.

The exclusive Los Angeles engagement of The Gardener begins today Friday, August 2nd at Laemmle's Music Hall 3 in Beverly Hills and on Friday, August 9, in New York City at the Quad Cinema. Any further screenings (you can request one by clicking here), I imagine, will be listed on the film's web site. Eventually, I'd guess, we'll be able to see the movie on DVD, VOD and digital outlets.

Sikhs in North America: OCEAN OF PEARLS opens the door to a little-known religion

The headline above says "little-known," but TrustMovies cannot be certain this is true. He's speaking for himself here, even though, some 35 years ago, he was a friend of and did business with a young Sikh man in Los Angeles named Said, who was one of the kindest and in many ways most special people he had yet met. Dedicated to service, as are the Sikhs, this fellow had a view of the world that seemed quite wonderful and reassuring.  And -- he always wore a turban.  (Think of Sikhs as the non-Muslim turban-wearers, among other differences.)

I thought of my long-forgotten friend again while watching OCEAN OF PEARLS, the first major Sikh-American produced feature film that has been bouncing around the smaller festival circuit for a couple of years and now lands here in New York City for a theatrical release. I hope you will not take it amiss when I say that the film has the look and feel of decent, mainstream television: nicely photographed, with a lot of smart, thought-provoking talk, and filled with ideas about culture, tradition, modernity, what it means to serve and how best we might accomplish this service.

Directed by Sarab S. Neelam, shown at right, a medical-doctor-turned-filmmaker, the movie admittedly is somewhat autobio-
graphical, and if Mr. Neelam was as good an MD as he proves a first-time filmmaker, then this is a loss to the healing profession. (Ah, but films, too, can heal in their way.)  This one begins with a young surgeon named Amrit (whose specialty is transplants) telling us about his own father, another kind of transplant from Asia to Canada. "Why would someone work so hard to come to a new-world country, just to keep on living in the old one?" And then, "To my father, the turban is an article of faith. To me it means I'd better make damn sure I'm not late for my flight." Why? We quickly find out at the airport, as, due to that turban, our hero is made to wait and wait until security has checked him out thoroughly. Then another event happens that throws everything off course.

In Detroit, where his flight has taken him, Amrit is giving a paper on transplants, but the smart hospital that is hosting the seminar uses it to recruit its top staff.  Soon our young man is a part of that staff, mixing heavily with non-Sikhs and discovering that his turban is becoming even more of a problem. Sikhs use this to cover their hair, which the males do not cut -- ever, it seems.  This is tradition, and it is not taken lightly. But how does his turban/hair impact on the kind of "service" Amrit might be able to provide, were he to move ahead at the hospital, where the Board of Directors is not, post-9/11, turban-friendly?  "You don't need long hair to help people," the young man realizes.  And yet...

Via one of his patients, a woman who needs a liver transplant, we -- and Amrit -- suddenly come up against America's marvelous health insurance system.  The director/co-writer (with V. Prasad) handles all this surprisingly well; as much and as often as we've seen this situation before, it can still produce enormous anger and a sense of injustice.  The way the hospital handles things, though quite believable, is not acceptable to Amrit and provokes the climax of this most interesting movie.  The Sikh girl left behind, and a new one (the hospital's marketing director, shown above, in her own turban) also add to the mix, and both these situations are handled believably, as are those of the various hospital staff members and their viewpoints, and those of Amrit's family back in Canada.

The acting is all it needs to be to carry the movie home. Omid Abtahi makes a fine young doctor, while Heather McComb and Navi Rawat are the smart and attractive women in his life, Ron Canada is the head of the hospital and Brenda Strong the patient that provokes the final decision.  If the movie never breaks out of its TV-level mold, I don't think this is necessary to entertain and inform American audiences. Once its theatrical release is completed, I hope it finds its way onto cable and network TV -- where it should prove a shoo-in for something popular that is also a little different -- and important for Americans to become aware of, and maybe, dare we hope, embrace.  Our country more dedicated to service?  Imagine that!

Ocean of Pearls opens in Manhattan at the BIG CINEMAS.  You can click here to ascertain former and further play-dates. The DVD, too, should be available eventually.