NEWS JUNKIE POST
Jun 15, 2010 at 10:22 pmNeda’s Legacy: Film Captures Iranian Heroine
Stories and images, singular in their power, capture the heartbreak of war in ways no set of statistics or political arguments could ever hope to convey. While numbers are dehumanizing, a poignant, life-affirming diary of a young girl written before succumbing to the deadly grasp of the Nazis movingly tells the story of the Holocaust. A single photograph of children killed during the My Lai Massacre crystallizes the misguided slaughter of Vietnam.
The shocking images of the brutal death of Neda Agha-Solton on June 20, 2009, shortly after the controversial Iranian election, rocked not only her nation but the whole world. Shot by what many believe was a government sniper, Neda’s death was captured by bystanders and transmitted within minutes all over the Internet. The image of a beautiful young woman, wide-eyed and bloodied as she lay dying in a chaotic street scene became a symbol of all those killed or injured by the Iranian government and Islamic extremists.
“For Neda,” Antony Thomas’ documentary explores Neda’s life and spirit. HBO, which airs the film this month, is so committed to its significance it has made the complete film available on the Internet. The film relies on interviews with Neda’s family, obtained by Iranian journalist Saaed Kamali Dehghan, at great personal risk. He returned to Tehran from Paris disguising his equipment, making it look amateurish to elude authorities.
The family–officially silenced by the government– had never before spoken about Neda’s death. They were told various state approved versions, each one absurd and insulting. She wasn’t dead, one fable suggested, but exiled in Greece. Others had her killed by the CIA or the BBC. Still another proposed the dead girl wasn’t Neda at all, but an actress–who wasn’t really dead–and had been hired by Western forces to agitate Iranian protesters and discredit the regime.
Despite the threat of retribution, the family say it is safer to finally speak. Many believe the government would never touch them as they–like Neda–now belong to the entire nation. Even oppressive regimes can only withstand so much bad press.
Described as a “fearless child,” from an early age Neda rebelled against Iran’s pervasive sexism. She refused to wear the required chador to school and traveled to Turkey where she could enjoy greater personal freedom. A voracious reader, she consumed whatever literature she could get her hands on including banned books like “Wuthering Heights” and “The Last Temptation of Christ.” She relished pop music and western clothes, although she was forbidden to indulge in their exotic allure anywhere but within the walls of her loving home.
Neda’s story, of course, transcends her personal tale. Interviews with journalists, government officials and citizens highlight the inequality that still grips Iranian society. A woman discusses her run-in with police for merely exposing her neck. People rattle off all the limitations placed on women from education to marriage, clothing to transportation. In court a woman’s testimony is frequently ignored. Women are less than in this society. Neda, like many young women, fought arduously against the myriad antiquated oppressions.
In the days before Neda’s murder it seemed Iran might be on a course to a freer, more inclusive, more equal society. After what appeared to be a rigged election last June, peaceful protesters swarmed the streets, demanding to know how the election results could have been announced before the votes had been counted and just how the opposition, which once held such an overwhelming lead in the polls, could have evaporated to a negligible trickle at the ballot box.
The Iranian Supreme Leader ordered protesters off the streets or risk military retaliation. As we know, the peaceful protests were eroded, replaced with deadly chaos. The government shut down the press, yet the images of the military’s brutality–taken by cellphones and digital cameras and aided by a young computer whiz Austin Heap who cleverly created proxy servers and circumvented firewalls—blazed across the Internet.
The most indelible of those images was Neda. Her stunned face, as beautiful as it is bloodied– flashed on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube– became a rally cry to the world. That image–and Neda’s spirit–pierced through a jaded, over-exposed digital culture, reminding us that the fight for freedom is never an easy one. It always comes at a cost.
“For Neda” offers personal portraits of a young woman who was too young and vital to be a martyr. It also features powerful stories and images of a nation enduring dangerous growing pains. And just as Neda’s death put the oppressive regime on notice, so does this film. One of the best things about our instant digital world is the quick access we now have to information and images. What we once had to wait days, weeks, even months for, is now available with one click of a computer or cellphone.
Be warned despots, the world is watching. And we’re doing it now. Neda will forever be an international icon for citizen journalism.
“For Neda” by Antony Thomas, airs this month on HBO and is available free on HBO.com.
Please follow Amy Beth Arkawy on Twitter. You can also read her other News Junkie Post articles.
This was a beautiful article and I can’t wait to see For Neda in its entirety on HBO. She most certainly did not die in vain. Thank you for alerting us to this documentary.
Wow so sad. Such a young, beautiful woman, She would be proud to see something good come out of the whole tragedy.
Lou
http://www.ip-spoofing.net.tc
Title…
This is my Excerpt…