This year’s Venice Biennale College Cinema section is showcasing four films that were developed through its workshops and funding. Among them are two works that deal with a woman’s struggle to cope with separation from loved ones: Italy’s Come le Tartarughe and Azerbaijan’s Banu.
Azerbaijani actress Tahmina Rafaella is the writer-director of Banu, named after the film’s protagonist. Rafaella previously wrote and acted in Inner City, and directed a short film, A Woman. In Banu, she also plays the main role, a difficult challenge for a first-time feature director, but one she handles with understated dignity.
Zaur Shafiyev plays Banu’s husband Javid, delivering the right mix of charm and violence that so often explains how domestic violence can remain invisible to outsiders. When Banu asks for a divorce, Javid demands full custody of their young son Ruslan (Emin Askarov). Banu begins a desperate search for potential court witnesses to her husband’s abuse, which has been kept secret, but fear of reprisals and prejudice keeps them from rallying to her defense. Her own mother inadvertently puts her at risk, and her mother-in-law fiercely takes her son’s side. Yet Banu persists and challenges the status quo, and the tension grows as the date for the court hearing approaches.
The personal conflict is set against the much larger geopolitical tensions that resulted in two recent wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. A fragile peace agreement brokered by Russia ended the war that resulted in thousands of military and civilian deaths. Tahmina Rafaella juxtaposes the two conflicts, personal and geopolitical, to great effect. We watch street rallies in support of the war, and shrill television reports of Azerbaijani victories. Rafaella contrasts those patriotic outbursts with the quiet grief of widows and mothers who mourn their fallen sons and husbands, hailed as Muslim martyrs by chanting crowds.
The film is set in the Azerbaijan capital, Baku, a modern, secular city that reflects the country’s prosperous economy based on fossil fuel exports. Scenes set along the Caspian Sea show the striking presence of large oil wells, dwarfing the humans sitting by the shore. Touraj Aslani’s camera is firmly focused on the face of the suffering but determined protagonist, in a series of long close-ups that can become overbearing.
Azerbaijan has an established film industry since 1898 and has received recognition for its talents, such as screenwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov, who wrote Under the Sun, (Cannes Grand Prix 1994, Academy Award 1995, BAFTA 1996). That film denounced Stalinism in the 1930s. The story of Banu, set almost a century later, chronicles more subtle pressures, rooted in tradition rather than overt repression, and denounces nationalism, showing us its devastating consequences for women who deliver their sons as cannon fodder to the warmongers. Banu should showcase in film festivals around the world and hopefully launch a fruitful directing career for Rafaella.
Director and Screenplay: Tahmina Rafaella
Cast: Tahmina Rafaella, Malak Abbaszadeh, Zaur Shafiyev, Jafar Hassan, Kabira Hashimili, Emin Askarov
Producer and Script Advisor: Katayoon Shahabi
Cinematography: Touraj Aslani
Editing: Mastaneh Mohajer
Sound: Morteza Najaflou
Sound Design and Mix: Ensieh Maleki
Production company and Distributor: Noori Pictures, (France-Katayoon Shahabi), Azerbaijan, Italy, France, Iran
Venue: Venice Film Festival (Biennale College Cinema)
In Azerbaijani, Russian
90 minutes
