Marmoulak (2004)

User Rating:

8.8/10   

Director:

Kamal Tabrizi

Writer:

Peyman Ghassemkhani (writer)

Release Date:

April 2004 (Iran)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Reza is a petty thief who escapes jail by posing as a mullah. When he has to stay in disguise longer than he expected...

Plot Keywords:

Mosque | Mullah | Disguise | Clergy | Assumed Identity

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Parviz Parastui	...	Reza Marmoulak
Bahram Ibrahimi
Shahrokh Foroutanian
Farideh Sepah Mansour
Maedeh Tahmasebi
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ali Abedini
Rana Azadvar	...	Fayezeh
Bahram Ebrahimi
Mehran Rajabi	...	Shojaei
Reza Saeedi
Naqi Seif-Jamali

Also Known As:

The Lizard (International: English title) (USA)

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

Iran

Language:

Persian

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:12A

Company:

Faradis

Trivia:

Broke Iranian box-office record although it was only in theaters for two weeks.

what a great movie.bravo!!!!

I have seen this movie over 10 times. As an Iranian I found that the movie was very funny yet very thoughtful. I think Mr. Kamal Tabrizi (director) is trying to distinguish between true believers and the ones that use religion in a negative way to control the masses. Here is a felon who escapes from prison using some cleric's clothing. That same cleric tells "Maroulak', before his escape, that there an as many ways to reach God as there is people on Earth. The cleric uses a proverb in Persian witch means almost the same as the one in English, You can't judge a book by its cover, after Reza (maroulak) curses mullahs and finds out that he is one also. He also reads him a paragraph from the book called "The Little Prince". After his escape, Reza ends up in a small town that has an almost unfrequented mosque but slowly people start coming back to see who this new cleric is. For me this movie is very symbolic of the way Iranian live today with there religion and leaders. There are some people that can't differentiate between the good ones and the "evil" ones. Most of them judge a cleric as soon as the see he is dress like one therefore Mr. Tabrizi tries to tell us to hold our judgements until we are sure of them. We also see a little boy throughout the movie that never talks witch is the same little prince, in my opinion, from that famous book. I find that this was one of the best movies I have ever seen and a great contribution to Persian cinema. But sadly many Iranians that I have talked to don't understand the movie for what it is. So if you going to see the movies remember that this movie is mainly based on one sentence: YOU CAN'T JUDGE A BOOK BY IT'S COVER. I also suggest that one read the mentioned book before watching the movie.