The green wave (2010), documentary about the elections in Iran in 2009

Where is my vote?

In this documentary Ali Samadi Ahadi reconstructs the situation around the elections in Iran in 2009 and the mass protest that followed them, because president Ahmadinejad neglected the results and appointed himself for president again.

The film was made by mobile telephones and digital camera’s. The blogs and tweets are being visualizes with animations. I was especially interesting because I followed in those days and still follow on Twitter a young woman called Parastoo.  

The documentary starts with the speech of opposition leader Mousavi in a full stadium in which everyone was dressed in green, the color of the hope, hope for change. Also the wife of Mousavi speaks with a lot of charism. There is a wave of hope in the city of Teheran and Iran that suffers for thirty years of oppression under the Islamitic Republic. People talk again and feel united. They are a non violent community. State television only showes nature documentaries. Mousavi wins the elections which were even manipulated: there were not enough ballots to vote and votingbureaus sometimes were closed. Mousavi got house arrest and the regime, supported by spiritual leader Khamenei, reacted with lots of violence, when the demonstrations continued. There were house searches and interrogations. Teheran became a military zone; police, secret police and militia, who were symphatetic before, used a lot of force. The situation in the prisons was terrible. In the Kahrizak prison in Teheran people were put together with to many persons and beaten up all the time in the dark and finally, if not dead, left in the desert. The young women Neda who was killed in the street became the symbol of the resistance. A man who was released from prison saw all those people outside the gate with photo’s of their loved ones and realised Iran was a big prison. A young man says at the end he is sorry for Iran and themselves and has to cry when he sees happy young people in Western Europe. Then he askes himself if they have any knowledge of the situation in Iran.

Lawyer and human rights activist Akhavan says that the crimes are being documented. For example by a member of the militia about his murdering collegues. Akhavan says that the green wave will eventually change Iran and the entire Middle East. At the moment we see this proces taking place. May the West not only be interested in the nuclear activities of Iran but also in the human rights!