The movie Gabbeh is an Iranian film directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf features a mythical young woman longing to be married to the horseback stranger from another clan. Gabbeh is a magical, colorful love story filmed in Iran with the dialect spoken in their native tongue. There are subtitle in the film but the dialog is kept to minimum. The young woman, Gabbeh, is played by Shaghayeh Djodat. However she is not permitted to marry him until her uncle played by Abbas Sayah marries before she does. This mythical young woman appears when an elderly couple goes through their routine of cleaning their gabbeh, while squabbling gently with each other. Magically the young woman appears and helps them to clean the rug. This young woman belongs to the clan whose history is depicted in the design of the gabbeh, and the rug recounts the story of the courtship of the young woman by a stranger from the clan. The girl's story is almost like a fairytale but in actuality encompasses the old woman's real-life struggle with daily life and accomplishing her aspiration of matrimony. Makhmalbaf's uses this film to show his impassioned analysis of poverty, the oppressiveness of tradition or the loneliness of women in a patriarchal society in Iran. He hides his analysis by the usage of color which is prevalent throughout the whole movie. The vibrant colors that the women wear in the movie are a source of solidarity for women and give them an outlet to express themselves in the patriarchal society. This passionate love story offers a glimpse into a society that as Westerners we know little about and have many misconceptions about. This Iranian film is the 1st I have seen from the region and has definitely spurred my interest in seeing more films from this director.
