ASHOK’S FIVE reasons to watch “Taxi”, Jafar Panahi’s unique work that looks at everyday life in Tehran but shot through three hidden cameras in a taxi that he drives around. Banned for twenty years by the Iranian government, “Taxi” is Panahi’s labour of love and a tribute to the spirit of free expression. The film won the Golden Bear at the Berlin film festival in 2015.
1. Taxi is every aspiring film-maker’s delight. One of the first things that they teach you in film school is that you don’t need to have a lot of money to make a film. What you need is resourcefulness and ability to get a lot of people to collaborate together inspired by your idea. And Taxi is exactly that and more!
2. As Panahi drives around Tehran city, he encounters various passengers ranging from a man who is a thief but believes in the death penalty, two old women who believe in religious superstition, a DVD bootlegger, an artist who has been weighed down by restrictions and his own niece Hana who is working on making a film as part of her school assignment but within restrictions imposed by her teachers.
3. There is a gentle good-natured humour that pervades the entire film and offsets the dark corners of society that are sought to be exposed
4. The film has an air of calm, wry humour and gentleness to it while at the same time forking out serious issues and debates like the death penalty, violence, sexism, censorship and poverty. All this said with a genial tone of voice.
5. Panahi’s daughter, Hana is outspoken and has a point of view and is delightful as she proceeds to make her own film; the footage from that venture is incorporated in Taxi.
Taxi is about 80 minutes and is completely shot with three cameras inside the taxi. It is not a work of artistic or technical brilliance. Neither is it story telling at its best. It is a tribute to the power of an idea and the courage to break shackles and come out on top !
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