Outline:
Although nothing could possibly be as intense as the video emerging fromIranthese days, if you wish to maintain your attention on all things Persian even after the evening news has ended, you have choices.
Apple TV+ is now offering the third season of the acclaimed Israeli drama series Tehran, which has won Emmys, and is accessible in the US and across the globe.
That’s positive news for viewers who opt to watch it with English subtitles instead of the Hebrew ones offered by KAN, Israel’s national broadcaster, which created the series and broadcast it last year. Although some parts are in English and Hebrew, the majority of the conversation is in Farsi.
Since a significant amount of time has elapsed since the last season was aired, you may wish to check out a plot summary or re-view some of the previous episodes, which can be found on Apple TV+ and KAN.
The numerous surprises and betrayals that occurred at the end of season two are too intricate to detail here, and it’s crucial to recall the specifics since the new season begins immediately where the second one concluded, without any break.
What has truly kept the series successful over the years is that, besides its espionage storyline, it presents a depiction of the Iranian people, including those who desire freedom and those who seek to preserve the oppressive system at any cost.
This season, Mossad agent and tech expert Tamar Rabinyan (Niv Sultan) is once again on the run, and she finds refuge at a women’s shelter, where the other residents and staff treat her like any other woman escaping an abusive relationship. This season offers an intriguing look at how these resilient women support one another in building a new life, and even the hardened Tamar is deeply moved by their strength.
While Tamar utilizes the shelter as a starting point while working to stop a delivery of components required to construct a nuclear bomb, there is a narrative focusing on Eric Peterson, the leader of aUnited Nationsnuclear inspection team, portrayed by Hugh Laurie from House.
As stubborn as Dr. House, Peterson openly expresses disdain for theIranianScientists cause trouble for everyone around him. Tamar, fully concentrated on her mission, finds herself in difficult situations with her Mossad supervisors, as she has done before, and needs to determine if she can rely on the clever, long-time Mossad agent “The Owl,” portrayed with subtle threat by Sasson Gabay.
Prisoner 951
With so much happening, it can be challenging to take it all in, and “Prisoner 951,” a true account of how one family endured extreme hardship at the hands of the Iranian regime, is an emotional and impactful narrative that highlights what the demonstrators are struggling for, and against. It is available on Cellcom TV, Yes VOD, and Yes Binge, as well as HOT VOD and NEXT TV, beginning January 20. It will air every Tuesday at 10:00 p.m. on Hot Drama.
The show centers on Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (played by Narges Rashidi from Gangs of London), a British-Iranian national, who gets detained at Tehran airport upon her return to London following a visit to her family in 2016.
Nazanin, employed in organizing training programs for journalists with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was completely confused by her arrest and spent many years detained under Iran’s regime. The series draws inspiration from the book “A Yard of Sky,” authored by Nazanin along with her husband Richard Ratcliffe (played by Joseph Fiennes, known for his roles in Shakespeare in Love and The Handmaid’s Tale), detailing their family’s challenges.
Nazanin endures years of torment and seclusion in multiple prisons across Iran, while in London, the initially calm Richard tirelessly campaigned for her release, launching a worldwide public effort and undertaking a hunger strike in the center of the city, a battle that eventually captured global interest. The two main characters deliver powerful performances in this compelling film.
Moreover, there is a documentary featuring the Zaghari-Ratcliffe family titled Prisoner 951: The Hostages’ Story, available on Yes Docu and Yes VOD as well as Hot 8 and Hot VOD. Within the film, the actual couple share their experiences, and it also places her kidnapping by the government in a historical perspective.
Movies from Iran on Apple TV+
There are several Iranian films available on Apple TV+. Among them is the Oscar-winning film A Separation, which follows a family in turmoil as the wife decides to leave because she does not wish to take care of her sick father-in-law. This film was directed by Asghar Farhadi. Farhadi is a filmmaker who has continued to produce movies in Iran that subtly critique elements of society, and the government has permitted him to continue his work, even allowing him to create films outside of the country.
It might astonish you to notice how similar Tehran appears to Jerusalem, which is logical as both are cities located in the mountains of the Middle East, with much of their infrastructure developed in the 1950s. Shayda, directed by Noora Niasari, follows the journey of an Iranian mother (Zar Amir Ebrahimi, who also co-directed the film Tatami with Guy Nattiv) residing in Australia, as she escapes an abusive spouse with her daughter. The movie received an Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, and Ebrahimi delivers a compelling performance in the leading role.
The top film to watch at the moment might be Argo, which can also be found on Apple TV+. It offers three key elements: it’s thrilling, frequently unexpectedly humorous, and rooted in a real-life event. Directed by and featuring Ben Affleck, Argo received the Best Picture Academy Award in 2013. The story takes place during the 1979 hostage situation in Iran, when protesters stormed the US Embassy in Tehran and captured everyone present. However, it was later revealed that six American employees managed to escape through the back and sought shelter at the Canadian ambassador’s residence. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were conducting searches from house to house for them, and it was only a matter of time before they were located.
Introducing Tony Mendez (Affleck), a former CIA specialist in extracting individuals. While watching Planet of the Apes with his son, he came up with a bold plan to rescue the Americans: he would pose as a producer looking for locations for a sci-fi movie similar to Star Wars set in the desert. The escaped Americans would be portrayed as part of the production crew, and the CIA provided them with Canadian passports and a fabricated record showing they had entered the country several weeks prior. A CIA representative (Bryan Cranston) acknowledges, “This is our best bad idea, by far.”
But they require a genuine American production company to back the story, so he seeks out a makeup artist (John Goodman at his most chaotic) theCIApreviously collaborated with, who sends Mendez to Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin, delivering one of his finest performances). Siegel, a former Hollywood star, is open to any opportunity and gives Mendez a poor script that he claims to be working on. He instructs Mendez precisely on what to do, stating, “If I’m making a fake movie, it’s going to be a fake hit.”
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, counterfeit versions of this film have been widely favored by Iranian dissidents for many years. “The sequences in Argo depicting angry crowds attacking the compound and their harsh treatment of captives reminded some younger Iranians of the violent suppression during the 2009 election protests, when pro-government groups targeted demonstrators and searched the offices of opposition figures… ‘When we witness the unyielding actions of the government during the hostage situation, we instinctively recall all that we’ve experienced in recent years,’ stated Fereydoun, a 32-year-old resident of Tehran who viewed the video and… chose not to reveal her surname,” noted Farnaz Fassihi in a 2013 piece.