Arusi Persian Wedding
27 July 2010, early morning
I finally watched a documentary I had mentioned on this site some time back, Arusi Persian Wedding. The film is about a recently married American couple — Alex, a Persian boy, and Heather, a girl originally from the Mid West — who decide to travel to Iran to have a Persian wedding with the boy’s Father’s family. The film opens with the couple preparing for their trip. The girl converts to Islam and they have an Islamic wedding in California so she can get a Persian passport. The couple’s parents meet for the first time. (I feel like there is a back story there that probably could have been explored more.) There is some brief exposition on the recent history of Iran: the 1953 Coup, the rise of the Shah, the Islamic Revolution, and the hostage crisis. The remainder of the film is a sort of travelogue: they travel from town to town, meet locals, and take in the sites. The film ends with their wedding. All in all I quite liked the movie, though it felt a bit light. The movie perhaps tries to talk about too many things in such a short period of time. There are so many interesting things that could have been fleshed out more: Heather’s family’s thoughts on her marriage and her “conversion” to Islam; Alex being a foreigner in both America and Iran; the couple’s culture shock; etc. I think because of when the film was made, back when it wasn’t clear whether America would attack Iran as well, the film perhaps spends too much time talking to Iranians about how they love America. Regardless, I think it’s an interesting film to watch, if only to see what a Persian wedding looks like.
Was there a knife dance
by krishna on July 27 2010, 3:57 pm #
No; well, nor in then film, anyway.
by ramanan on July 28 2010, 7:50 am #
I think the knife dance is something that is actually done during the bachelorette party…I may be completely wrong though since I have no Persian wedding experience to go by other than ours…
by sh!ma on July 28 2010, 9:56 am #
Actually on second thought, I think it’s done during the wedding. hah.. Shows how much I know.
by sh!ma on July 28 2010, 10:00 am #
There is more to a persian wedding than the knife dance?
The purpose of a hindu wedding is the free meal at the end.
Also Ram, the comment section seems to be wonky sometimes. Like if I type in a comment, leave it open for a while, then hit preview/submit the comment just fails to post.
by Krishna on July 28 2010, 4:00 pm #
It will preview again. It’s just the way the spam prevention works, I think.
by ramanan on July 28 2010, 4:08 pm #