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Saint or sinner?
Winner of the SIGNIS Interfaith award for dramatizing values which are common to Islam and Christianity, The Lizard, marmaluk in Persian, is a delightfully witty and humorous film with a message to all of humanity that it is not creed, but deed that matters in the end.
A mixture of comedy and satire, it depicts the many faces of Iran today. As the story unfolds, it reveals the authoritarism of those in power, the ambivalent attitude of the public towards the mullahs, and the impact of the theocratic government on the thinking and behaviour of ordinary people.
‘The Lizard’ carries a subtle yet strong message. Director Kamal Tabrizi says, ‘The message of the film is that the clergy, in order to survive and maintain their contact with the people, should accept criticism.’ The film broke all box-office records after it was released in Iran
The movie follows Reza, a prison convict, and his adventures outside its confines. Reza is known for scaling walls like a lizard, and is thus nicknamed ‘Marmaluk’. He also has a lizard tattooed on his arm. Convicted for robbery, he is sentenced to life and the prison warden tells him that he is there for redemption, not punishment. Hell-bent on sending Reza’s soul to heaven instead of hell, the sanctimonious prison warden is unreasonably hard on Reza. He is sent to solitary confinement even for the humane gesture of rescuing a bird from a wire fence.
Fed up with the treatment extended by the despotic and self-righteous warden, Reza tries to commit suicide. When a fellow prisoner tries to save him, he gets into a fight with him. Reza is badly hurt and has to be hospitalized. The patient on the bed next to him is a cleric and Reza steals his clothes and escapes disguised as a man of religion. He soon discovers the mixed blessings of being a mullah. On the streets of Tehran, his new appearance does not command much respect from the public. He is able to flag a taxi with difficulty but the cabdriver takes him in the opposite direction. Reza then steals the driver’s wallet. In an attempt to get out of the country he boards a train, but before he can reach the border he is stopped and ends up in a small town where the people take him for the Imam they were expecting for their run-down mosque.
His preaching is most unusual and nontraditional. The worshippers, assuming his example to be metaphorical, are enraptured by it. Instead of spoonfeeding them, he encourages people to think for themselves and inspires them to become better human beings. Reza’s down-to-earth, non-dogmatic and somewhat eccentric approach endears him to the congregation. As a result, more and more people start coming to the mosque.
Other characters in the film also reflect the complexities of Iranian society. The young man who is constantly asking questions and writes down every word the Imam utters is a reflection of the people who have gotten used to parroting whatever they are told. The other young man, torn between his training as a cleric and his feelings for a young woman, represents the conflicts, frustration and the hopes of the people in Iran, particularly the young. Underlying the obvious sarcasm and biting criticism is a profound belief in religious. True religion does not need rigid laws and regulations.
Iranian movies are powerful in their simplicity. This film is a wonderful change from the Hollywood/Bollywood stuff one usually gets to watch. There are none of the usual attention getting techniques. Excitement in the viewers is induced by the fear that Reza’s true identity could be discovered by the worshippers any time. Director Kamal Tabrizi says: “The message of the film is that the clergy, in order to survive and maintain their contact with the people, should accept criticism.”
The film broke all box-office records after it was released in Iran. It was banned when a religious hardliner complained that he was called ‘The Lizard’. Attempts were also made to prevent showings abroad.
Some reports have said that the head of the hardline Iranian judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmud Hashimi Shahrudi, watched the film twice and set up a special committee to get a second opinion.
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