The House Is Black

"The House is Black" by Farugh Farrokhzad,  is a fascinating and beautiful underlooked film that look's at the plight of a small village of Lepers in Iran. It is part of the original titan's of the Iranian New Wave, the most famous example of this time is "GAAV" (Cow).


 The movie most importantly takes a scathing look at the lack of hospitality found in the pious country by damning Islam for their lack of help. These individuals have been shunned by the larger community and by extension their religion, ultimately are forced to wallow in filth and despair, hoping things will get better.  One interesting shot that holds incredible weight is a parental dog looking after and helping her younger pup. In  most of Islam sect's dogs are considered  inpure and dirty creatures. However they are willing to help their younger, their weaker, something this more advanced and religious society could not do.

 Aside from the content,  the film maker instills varies successful techniques, such as a powerful female  voice-over by the director. She   recites a vignette of poems written by herself. The beautiful and touching poems, bring forth the writing, rumination, and philosophical paradigms  in Tarkovsky's film's,  most noticeable "The Mirror". However, this is not the only film and director that springs to life from this film. The scene where a male voice,  detached from the leperous terror captivating the scene starts to talk about the scientific cause and symptoms of Leperosy brings forth a Godardian cool.Specifically it reminds the reviewer of "Vivre Sa Vie"; when a cool voice describes a brothel and the laws regarding prostitution.  Some of the editing in some regards is fascinating and clearly ahead of its time. They are very reminscient of jump-cuts, erratic, sporadic, and mostly are utilized around children. In perhaps away to catch their youthful spirits regardless of the terror around them. Lastly the camera shot themselves are tight in control and never wander. In a sense it accurately portrays the feeling  of being trapped, claustaphobia sets in, and the viewer becomes powerless. Barely anything if at all, of outside the village is shown. Very few buildings are presented or shown together, rather individual decrepit buildings crawling out of the desperate milleau of a down trodden leper colony.  Nature seems to be suffocated as well, outside of reach and the hostile enviroment is all the viewers and inhabitants look forward too.

In the end, The House of Black is an amazing look at a leper colony done by an extremely talented film-maker who sadly has not made anything else, as she had sadly passed away after the making of this film. It is perhaps the greatest short documentary I have ever seen in my life and implore  the audience to see a movie relish in ugliness with such beauty. It simply is a  profound piece of film making.