Taxi Teheran - Art and Rebellion on Four Wheels

Translated by Irene Cecchi

Teheran, a city full of life, is the background of an extraordinary movie that mixes fiction and reality and shows the harsh truth of a country subjugated by oppressive law and implacable censorship. With Taxi Teheran, Jafar Panahi challenges the government’s restrictions, turning a decadent taxi into a moving stage for the narration development.

Panahi becomes a taxi driver for a day to capture faces and voices of the varied humanity that gets in and out of his taxi. From supporters of the death sentence calling for extreme justice to dissidents who fight for freedom just like him, every passenger represents a fragment of the complex Iranian society that is split between tradition and modernity, repression and desire for change. With a camera “hidden” on the car dashboard, the Iranian director manages to do a deeply intimate and universal work at the same time, where every word or gesture enclose the difficult burden that millions of people are carrying every day.

The first episode is as paradoxical as the numerous realities that will be shown during the whole movie, in fact, the first person gettin in the taxi believes in the need to harshly punish thieves (by hanging them, leitmotif of the whole documentary) but then discovering his a pickpocket himself. This paradox shows the hypocrisy and contradiction of a social system where law only exists to stifle dissent and maintain the moral order facade.

During his journey along Iran capital’s streets, Panahi meets people like an illegal dvd seller who recognises him and takes the chance to brag about his “cultural job” or like two old ladies who, full of superstitions, rush to a river to fulfill a religious vow. Every encounter seems to be a piece of a bigger puzzle, describing a society entrapped in political repression and popular belief. Anyways, despite some harsh dialogues, Taxi Teheran manages to balance drama and humor, showing the Iranians resilience also in surreal situations.

Hana is the female protagonist of the movie, the director's niece; she is a curious and lively girl who has to shoot a short film for a school project. The dialogues with her uncle are the most significant parts of the movie since they underline the absurdity of Iranian cinema restrictions: in order to be released, every movie has to abide by the rules that prevent any kind of social or political criticism.

Hana’s innocence clashes against the complex and harsh reality of her country, the impossibility to shoot a short film without breaking the rules is a metaphor for the impossibility to tell the truth about a repressive regime.

This is a clear reference to Panahi’s ban in 2010, when they forbade him to shoot movies, write scripts or release interviews for twenty years. Anyways, this movie is proof that no one can stifle creativity: the director cunningly bypasses the restrictions and creates a work that screams freedom, without directly pointing out to the power.

The film ends with a message of hope and melancholy. The lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, engaged in human rights’ advocacy, represents the ongoing fight of those who, despite threats and persecutions, keep struggling for justice. The taxi goes from a mere vehicle to metaphor of life itself: a journey full of uncertainties where every stop can bring surprises, fears but also the discovery of new truths.

Secretly shot, Taxi Teheran won the Golden Bear at the 2015 Berlinale, an award that goes beyond the photo quality, and then it was released in August of the same year.

This movie not only is a love letter for cinema but also an act of resistance. Panahi reminds us that, despite the most strict restrictions, art will always find a way to talk to the world.

His hidden camera becomes a window for the world that can now see how life in Iran is and can reflect on human conditions under censorship.

Taxi Teheran do not try to convince the audience of an absolute truth but ask questions, stimulate reflections and let them draw their conclusions. What emerges from this unique movie is a portrait of a complex Country, full of hopes and contradictions, where freedom desires clash with the ties of an oppressive power. With his taxi, Panahi invites us to get on board for a journey through the reality of people who never stopped dreaming about freedom, even when everything suggested to be against it.

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