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Iran's Unlikely TV Hit

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Every Monday night at 10 o’clock, Iranians by the millions tune into Channel One to watch the most expensive show ever aired on the Islamic republic’s state-owned television. Its elaborate 1940s costumes and European locations are a far cry from the typical Iranian TV fare of scarf-clad women and gray-suited men.

But the most surprising thing about the wildly popular show is that it is a heart-wrenching tale of European Jews during World War II.

The hour-long drama, “Zero Degree Turn,” centers on a love story between an Iranian-Palestinian Muslim man and a French Jewish woman. Over the course of the 22 episodes, the hero saves his love from Nazi detention camps, and Iranian diplomats in France forge passports for the woman and her family to sneak on to airplanes carrying Iranian Jews to their homeland.

On the surface, the message of the lavish, state-funded production appears sharply at odds with that sent out by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly called the Holocaust a myth.

In fact, the government’s spending on the show underscores the subtle and often sophisticated way in which the Iranian state uses its TV empire to send out political messages. The aim of the show, according to many inside and outside the country, is to draw a clear distinction between the government’s views about Judaism — which is accepted across Iranian society — and its stance on Israel — which the leadership denounces every chance it gets.
TheRealEdwin

5 responses // Iran's Unlikely TV Hit

  • http://www.zundelsite.org/english/101/101toc.html
    It saddens me to think that the show is being used as a political tool but, at the same time I like the idea of the government contradicting the views of their leader.
    There are links all over the internet in support of the 'myth' idea.
    I find it very hard to imagine that anyone would contest such a thing but, for anyone who is interested on this side of the argument I have posted a link.
    Wasn't a guy sent to prison for speaking out against the Holocaust recently?
    ovkorrse
  • I think everyone should have the right to question anything they want. Their actions may be deemed offensive to some people but we must honor freedom of speech for the very ideas that we hate, or we do not honor freedom of speech at all.

    We cannot pick and choose what can and cannot be said and still be in support of freedom of speech.

    Don't believe the hype on the Iran situation, hear the information from the horses mouth.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykd-syzZ4ZY
    phillyharper
  • This is great news. Getting them addicted to high production values and compelling stories is important. They should own the airwaves and not the government. Learning what the medium of televison can be will go far more towards democratizing or educating the region than ANY bomb ever will.
    ocanada
  • I actually took the time to go and watch the clip that phillyharper was referring to in the link. I listened to what Ahmedinejad had to say.

    He wasn't so much saying that he denies that the holocaust happened, he is saying that 60 million lost their lives in WWII and not all of them were Jews. It wasn't just about Jews, there weren't just star of David patches being handed out. Any other race than the master race was subject to extermination.

    Ahmedinejad is asking, "what role did the Palestinians have in the Holocaust?" Why should they be denied their basic human rights so that Israel can exist? (paraphrased and condensed)

    Ahmedinejad seems to be saying that the situation in Palestine is a precursor to another Holocaust in the making; a holocaust against the Palestinian people.

    His hope is that if people were allowed to continue to question the events of WWII that further understanding could transpire from the scientific inquiry. He wants people to realize that human rights is not just about what happened 60 years ago to the Jewish people in Nazi concentration camps; human rights is about all the people that passed through those concentration camp gates, no matter whether they were in the majority or part of a minority group. (LGBT, Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, Muslims and others were also among those murdered in those camps)

    This is what I got out of watching the video.

    The last job that I had in Los Angeles before I moved to Oregon was working for a Persian man who was also Jewish. They were the most generous bosses I ever worked for. When I got engaged to get married while I was working for them, they rented me a limousine and paid for us to go to Las Vegas to get married. We ended up not getting married and everything turned out find afterwards; we both realized that we were being impulsive and using getting married just to have sex.

    My point is that I totally understand from having been a part of my former boss's world that there has and always will be a strong connection between the Persian people and the Jewish people because many Persians are Jewish. Remember that the Jewish people spent time in captivity in Persia and while they were there, just as they did in other nations where they were held captive, they intermarried and procreated. They left their seed in many nations past and present.
    jubal
  • Jubal,
    read your note. i too spent time recently in I. The Sunnis side with the Jews. Even in history the two have worked together. (old testament confirms this).

    Not all muslims are extreme terrorists, however, they too will be killed because according to beliefs, they, (modern sunnis etc) have sold out to infidel west. , Shiites against Sunnis, shiites against infidels...that is all of us...shiites against shiites, sunnis against sunnis...enemy wins...this is what is spoken about that there will never be peace in mid east.... ( until...messiah comes)...so whos the missiah?...the only thing some muslims agree on is hatred for jew...but not all muslims believe in hate, but they too are enemies and will be killed.
    Most people don't want t o hear about this because it is a religious struggle...let them do their thing, we'll do ours...problem is both sides don't have that mind set...they do hate, and to them we infidels are to be killed. by the way, Palestineans have two countries, Jordan being one of them. I am not Jewish, but they(jews) too were given a tiny bit of land, Israel, ( also,) by the way, first from God, then wtih Belflour dec. in 1948. The shiites are taught to hate the jew, that alah would have them kill the infidel...thats all they agree on. Read the story of Hagar being preg. with Ishmael, they would be a wild people...hello? even if you don't want to agree with history, or the bible for that matter, the bible gives the story and one should read it to hear both sides. It was Jacob who was chosen, not Ishmael. This struggle is a world view, and a religious belief. People don't like to talk about these topics because it is so personal...we in america think differently and believe all want togethereness and peace, let the Pal. have thier county in Isreal and all will be okay. No it won't. First the jews, then all of us other infidels, The shiites hate the sunni (sell outs) as well. The shiites don't use the oil...they'll blow up the mid east oil and not care. watch and see
    ihealing

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