Zagros, written by Sahim Omar Kalifa and Jean-Claude Van Rijckeghem, directed by the former - 8.3 out of 10

Zagros, written by Sahim Omar Kalifa and Jean-Claude Van Rijckeghem, directed by the former

8.3 out of 10

Hooray for Cinemax!

Through the medium of Cinemax 1 and 2, we have access to some of the most interesting, original, provocative independent films that take one to some of the remotest corners of the world, enabling viewers to have a real communication across cultures.

In the case of Zagros, the public can see what happens when a woman is accused of adultery in one of the regions where fundamentalism seems to be the predominant belief.

The recent case of the tiny sultanate of Brunei has attracted attention, with a despot that uses garbs that would be very appropriate for the Gay Pride proclaiming that sharia is to be applied.

In Zagros, we have zealots living in Kurdistan – presumably in the area that is officially part of Iraq, but since the elimination of Saddam Hussein the area with a Kurdish majority has ruled itself, enjoying a high degree of autonomy, if not outright independent status.

The excellent actor Feyyaz Duman plays Zagros, a shepherd – that has also worked as a butcher, in the period when he has met the woman he loves and we could add hates.

As he has to spend time with his sheep, his wife, Havan, and his daughter – albeit, poisoned with suspicion and jealousy, he thinks she might not be his child at one stage – spend long days away from him.

The community is very suspicious, backward, venomous and quick to believe and spread rumors that purport an intimate, adulterous relationship between the woman and a local man.

They press Zagros, telling him about the rumors that circulate – and they do much to re-distribute and enhance – and asking him to reject his spouse in the first place, demanding more as time passes by.

In his defense, the hero that soon becomes an anti-hero, not on the scale of Oedipus, who kills his father unknowingly, while this protagonist seems to be pushed to homicide by his family, is defending his wife in the first place, doubts the truth later and only after torment he confronts her openly.

Havan, faced with the perils of staying in this community that has turned against her, knows that she could be executed, as part of what these fundamentalists call “honor killings”.

As Abdollah, the father of Zagros puts it: “without a family you are nothing and a family without honor is nothing…you have to kill the whore my son and come back with me”…words to that effect

If a woman has committed a “mortal sin”, for those who look at the rigid, violent, perhaps wrong understanding of their sharia this is a stain on the honor of the family and it requires murder.

“honor killings” make multitudes of victims across the Muslim countries, where brothers, fathers, husbands and other close or distant family members are required or often volunteer to execute females that are suspected of wrong doing, without an official trial.

Zagros is a very good film, it has the merit of presenting this awful situation, and if only for casting a light on this tragic, horrendous, abominable side of fundamentalism it deserves a lot of praise.

Havan takes Rayhan, her daughter, with her and escapes the village where her execution would have been performed, with or without her husband, for his brother, Youssef, or someone else would have killed her.

She finds refuge in Belgium – the film is a production made in that country – and a cousin, who drives a taxi and has introduced her to the community of Kurds, helps her.

Zagros makes all the efforts to reunite with his family, but once he reaches them, he starts asking questions about the man who caused all the trouble, what happened between them…

After her husband insists, Havan tells him that the one who had been her schoolmate, who drove her in a remote place and took advantage of her, had raped her and she could not do anything except hit and kick him.

She has not told anyone about it, knowing that they are chauvinist, sexist and they blame the victim and not the brute, the assailant, which is what happens with her spouse, to an awful degree, for instead of offering support, sympathy, affection, he keeps asking why she went into his car – which she had done because she had known him for many years.

It gets much worse from here – indeed, as bad as it can get – for Abdollah arrives in Brussels, with his hatred and demands that the honor of the family is “restored „and his son kills his wife.