The Green Wave

Combining underground video footage, comic-book-like animation, conventional interviews, and archived posts from blogs and Twitter, Ali Samadi Ahadi's The Green Wave offers a wrenching but illuminating look at Iran's Green Revolution in 2009-10, charting the days and weeks of initial exhilaration and hope shared by hundreds of thousands of Iranians in Tehran and elsewhere, as they sensed a real possibility that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the country's controversial president, could lose a reelection bid. It's impossible not to be moved by extensive footage of passionate rallies (accented by the ubiquitous color green), full of the joyful tears, smiles, and dancing of ordinary people. As one interviewee says, this revolution wasn't simply about rebellion; it was about the sea change that happens when a repressed population suddenly finds freedom, human rights, and opportunities to be within reach. But the people are thrown into despair when the election appears to be stolen by Ahmadinejad. Through real-life blog entries narrated by composite (and animated) characters, viewers learn that everyone knew government forces would retaliate against the still-protesting Greens, as unarmed citizens used their cell phones to capture video and post tweets about their savage treatment at the hands of security forces. What those blurry images and bursts of text reveal is both enraging and sickening, yet the most shocking material here is the animated sequences of murder, torture, and rape—much of it inflicted on young people. Serving up a disturbing portrait of a nation eating itself alive, this is highly recommended. (T. Keogh)