What do we get out of going to the movies? Often we have our beliefs about right and wrong comfortably reaffirmed. Prebaked cinematic formulas tell us about good guys, bad guys and the glory of the American Dream. Some extraordinary movies stir us to see things differently.

Censorship laws in Iran do not always give filmmakers the luxury of relying on easily visible labels that tell us which characters are good and which are evil. A film in which the government was portrayed as blatantly corrupt, for example, would not be allowed.

Director Asghar Farhadi’s “A Separation,” which opened in Chicago this weekend, manages to make its audience think about contentious issues while abiding by censorship laws.

In order to do this, Farhadi must start from scratch, without any assumptions about Iranian society, its government or Islam. “A Separation” is a raw examination of the reality of life in Iran.

Farhadi keeps his audience very close. He lets us observe each character’s struggle intimately – every reaction, every facial expression is there for us to judge. The implications of our judgment are huge. “A Separation” is achingly suspenseful, and the payoff reveals how we as viewers come to find the truth.

The American media throws a lot of opinions at us, especially about the Middle East.

These opinions are often given with a belligerent and final tone, and fail to address issues in their full truth and complexity. This is true if we listen to people like Glenn Beck or Newt Gingrich, but it is also true in film.

“A Separation” offers no final opinion, but forces the audience members to reflect and to recognize their own prejudices. This kind of self-reflection and individual thought would serve Americans well in forming their opinions about other countries.

On Friday, I spoke with Communication Prof. Hamid Naficy, a leading scholar on Middle Eastern cinema. He said all the accolades the film has won, including an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay, are encouraging to the Iranian diaspora in today’s atmosphere. “[‘A Separation’] humanizes the country and its people… It shows that it’s like any other society. They have family issues like taking care of parents, taking care of children, diseases, illnesses, divorce.”

This is especially important against America’s “drumbeat for war.” The bravado of the Iranian government combined with the fear-mongering U.S. media has created a simplistic image of Iran as a threatening place.

Americans often equate the government with the people, not realizing that Iranians’ most heartfelt struggles are the same as ours, and that many of them live their lives in quiet opposition.

According to Naficy, deceiving officials has become a part of getting by in Iran. Even though satellite dishes are illegal, most people use them to access uncensored media and find clever ways to camouflage them in a cat-and-mouse game with the authorities.

“A Separation” invites us to form our own opinion of Iranian society by learning about the people and their daily struggles. The personal, nuanced judgments we take away from this film are very different from the distant, simplistic judgments we get from George Bush, for example, in his description of Iran as part of the “Axis of Evil.”

The film opens with the audience looking at Nader and Simin, a married couple, through the judge’s perspective as they present their cases for divorce. Each hopes that the judge will end the conflict by taking his or her side, and each is disappointed. As the film continues, the breach between Nader and Simin becomes more complicated when Nader is accused of a crime.

Professor Naficy explained to me how the seat of judgment shifts as the story unfolds. “The film ends with a different judge thinking about this situation and that different judge is the daughter, Termeh” he said. “The film very cleverly shifts the focus between the beginning and the ending of the film from official judge to personal.” We come to see the story unfold through Termeh’s earnest gaze, and it’s fascinating to observe how her perspective mixes with ours.

Like Termeh, Nader and Simin we cannot rely on the authorities to tell us who is guilty and who is innocent, in this film or in life. Nor can we rely on the mainstream media.

It is up to us to see beyond the official views that American and Iranian governments portray to come to our own conclusions about Iran and its people.

Hannah Green is a Weinberg senior. She can be reached at [email protected]

All opinions expressed in this column are solely the opinions of the columnist and do not reflect the views of The Daily Northwestern. If you would like to respond to the column, you may comment below, email the columnist or submit a 300-word letter to the editor to [email protected].