Inside Iran: The Fight for Freedom

Recently, the State Department forced the Mamdani administration to cancel a planned meeting with Iran’s UN ambassador. Although the Mayor disavowed any prior knowledge, the City Journal reported the commissioner responsible was acting on a directive to reach out to national government’s “in political alignment/leftist.” A reasonable person might wonder why the mayor would consider himself to be “in alignment” with the oppressive Revolutionary Islamic regime. The dissident Iranians appearing in this film would also wonder. They were part of the “Women. Life. Freedom” movement that launched in protest of Mahsa Jina Amini, but morphed into a full-scale revolt against the mandatory Chador. At the time of its UK premiere in 2023, Gesbeen Mohammad’s Inside Iran: The Figjht for Freedom was one of the few documentaries independently chronicling the protests from within Iran. It remains required viewing when it premieres today on Tubi.

Mohammad starts with a damning examination of Amini’s death, while in the custody of the morals police, following a widely witnessed (but officially denied) beating of customary viciousness. Her murder hit home hard for Rozhina, who shared many mutual friends with Amini in their Kurdish Iranian town, Saqqez. Indeed, the “Women. Life. Freedom” protests essentially launched during Amini’s funeral.

Mindful of precedent, the regime often added insult to injury by blockading and harassing the services for the protesters they murdered, like Fatemeh’s brother Javad. Like Rozhina, she also eventually found sanctuary abroad. The censorship their fellow Iranians face is not merely politically and artistically stifling. Its net effect is the complete erasure of the fallen loved ones. That is why activists like Mina and Hafez (seen only in shadows or in disguise) remained in Iran to secretly record demonstrations and the oral testimony of victims.

Those stories are often shocking and devastating. Frankly, our “mayor” should hear Maryam explain how the so-called “morals” police sexually assaulted her with what she assumed was a baton. When eventually released, she made an emergency trip to her GYN specialist, who confided they were currently treating dozens of such injuries.

In one respect, Inside Iran is now woefully dated. That would be the epigram citing the numbers of demonstrators who have been arrested, killed, and publicly executed. Who in their right mind would ever admit they considered themselves “in alignment” with this regime? Most people of conscience will accept the Revolutionary Islamic government’s oppressiveness on an intellectual level, but confronting the survivors’ stories in Muhammad’s film is quite another thing entirely.

As a film, it clearly shows all the hallmarks of undercover, guerilla reportage. Yet, it is no less powerful as a result. In fact, the immediacy and urgency of the collected testimony is palpable. It also now streams for free on Tubi, so you have no excuse for not watching. Very highly recommended, Inside Iran: The Fight for Freedom also currently streams on Fawesome.