Maryam

I recently saw Ramin Serry’s 2002 film, Maryam, which stars notable Iranian actors Shohreh Aghdashloo (most recently in The Nativity Story) and Shaun Toub (who has a penchant for playing Iranian fathers and also for wearing a skullcap just like the one in his IMDB photo anytime I’ve seen him in real life).

The movie is about an Iranian-American girl living in New Jersey during the Iranian revolution and subsequent hostage crisis. Her very religious cousin comes to stay with the family, leading to all sorts of mayhem and many life lessons. Honestly, I didn’t have high hopes for this movie, and I’m not really sure why, but I was pleasantly surprised. It’s truly top-notch. Serry did a great job of laying out the historical and cultural issues, and he gave it a very personal context which made it really emotionally engaging. Plus, he used my now-favorite Viguen song, “Chera Nemiraghsi,” which I then immediately purchased on iTunes and have been bopping to every morning at the gym (Dorky? Yes. And perhaps a post for later on.)

You can buy the movie on Amazon; I think it would be a great gift for Persian teenagers or college students.