Sundance review #2

The Glass House

The title of the movie references a center in Tehran started by Marjaneh Halati, an Iranian expatriate schooled in London. Marjaneh returned to Iran to start the center, whose social workers, teachers, and staff psychologist teach young, lower class Iranian women the skills they need to enter the work force and become independent. The movie follows a handful of the girls through their eighteen months of training, probing into their private lives as well as their time at the center.

Sussan, beaten by her temporary husband and raped by her older brother, finds it hard to accept the concept of self reliance, and believes security can only come from being wed. Sixteen year old Mitra works to break away from her existence as cook and maid to her verbally and physically abusive father and brother through her writing. Nazila is fiercely independent, finding an outlet in writing rap songs and recording them in an underground studio (women singing in public is illegal in Iran).

Overall, The Glass House is a fascinating look into Iran’s fiercely patriarchal social structure and the traditional place that women hold in this Islamic theocracy. Check out the trailer below.