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A hit film tests limits within Iran

From Associated Press

It’s a film that breaks plenty of taboos in clergy-ruled Iran: A convicted thief escapes prison disguised as an Islamic cleric; a man sings inside a mosque; a cleric robs a driver and sweet-talks and leers at a young woman.

Tehran director Kamal Tabrizi’s award-winning “Marmoulak” -- “The Lizard” -- has angered many hard-line clerics, who want people to believe that they are immune from any criminality and that their prophetic robes are sacred.

But the film is getting a much different reaction from audiences: It has been a box-office hit in Iran since its release in early April.

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Despite its satirical tone, some clerics have been satisfied with the film’s ending, in which the thief-turned-cleric undergoes a moral transformation by finding God. Even so, Iran’s Culture Ministry, controlled by reformers, censored parts of the film but permitted the rest to be screened last month.

The daily Sharq newspaper on Wednesday quoted Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of the hard-line Guardian Council, as saying the film should be banned -- though he acknowledged not having seen it.

“It has to be confronted because such films promote social corruption in the society,” Jannati was quoted as saying.

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The film depicts the fortunes of a thief named Reza Marmoulak, who breaks out of a prison hospital by wearing robes stolen from a cleric and discovers the benefits available to clergy in Iran, a Shiite Muslim state ruled by a hard-line religious establishment. He is taken in by a village near the Turkish border.

While posing as the cleric, Marmoulak captures hearts through his simplicity and making fun of strict religious interpretations of Islam.

“You don’t expect to see a film making fun of clerics in a country ruled by clerics,” said Maryam Nouri, a 25-year-old student who has seen the movie twice. “The film shows many realities about bad clerics they have refused to acknowledge.”

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