The Song of Sparrows

         

There tends to be some sort of stigma (possibly an understatement) between us and Islam. That is clear. It's been made clear from our past together, and it's proven to still be clear judging by the current events over the past month. Majid Majidi was one of the lead directors that branched Islamic Cinema into mainstream media. Watching his film, "The Song of Sparrows" allowed us to look into the life of a typical Islam, with his typical family, and his typical jobs. They live just like we do. We can easily relate to them and their values. I personally did not have to force myself to sit there and put up with this man and his beliefs, but instead I merely saw the similarities between our lives and values.

This is something that art can do. It can impact. It can change. It can inspire. It can relate. Mujidi knew this. In a 1999 interview he said "No matter what country or culture you're from, you always believe in friendship, you always believe in human values, and you always believe in peace. These are the basic values that everybody believes in, and we can demonstrate those values and have them permeate through cultural and artistic manifestations (http://www.avclub.com/articles/majid-majidi,13578/)."

Maybe the developed stigma will never fully go away, but it has definitely diminished. Perhaps the power of art, making its way into the outside world, revealed to the world that what is is perceived as different isn't  something to be feared or to judged. But it reality the worlds that we all believe to be different are much like our own.