scenes from Zinat

The film opens on Zinat, the unmarried village health care worker, serving community members at what seems to be the health care clinic for the area. In this opening scene, she attempts to promote the use of (Western) immunization and milk/formula products to a character we will soon know as Ashraf, only to be heatedly refused. Ashraf is mistrustful of Western medicine, (possibly representing a broader mistrust of the West in general?) and believes that her children will be harmed by the injections.

This scene sets up Zinat’s role in the community as a caretaker of the disadvantaged, while also introducing some of the community members’ disdain for Western ideas (centered here on Western medicine,) and similarly for Zinat’s extended role as a health care provider—a professional position not as commonly held by a woman.

In another early scene, Hamed, the man who wishes to marry Zinat, tries to help his mother with some of the housework—she scolds him and reminds him of her duty to do “woman’s work.” From this, she segues into a discussion of Zinat, proclaiming that she “isn’t interested in housework,” and thereby an unsuitable wife for Hamed. It was at this point that I wondered about Hamed and his perspective on the cultural norms —in attempting to help his mother in this scene, why is he now subtly challenging the stereotypical duties he has grown up understanding? Why would he be interested in Zinat if resistance to the norm was not becoming part of his perspective?

Zinat’s plight is clearly illustrated from this point on in the film—she enjoys working, learning more about medicine, and using her profession to aid the poor, the sick, and particularly the children of her community. Yet Zinat’s family—and the family of her prospective husband—do not approve of her aspirations. The pressures of the cultural norm on each other (within the community,) predominantly on Zinat and Hamed, eventually align to force Zinat to quit her job for the sake of getting married and fulfilling a more traditional role.

After Zinat is forcibly banned from working (at the clinic proper or in practicing medicine anywhere in the village,) a government official comes by her family’s home, confronting the father regarding Zinat’s absence at the clinic. The government sponsored some of Zinat’s medical training in return for a five-year contract at the clinic—she had yet to fulfill this contract and was expected to continue working at the clinic (or her father was to bear the cost of compensation to the government.)

I feel that this scene is significant in portraying the more secular point of view held by many in Iran in the early 1990’s. The government was, at that point, allowing women to participate in the educational system and fulfill professional roles in society—while traditional values held that these were not a married woman’s role, a major shift in perspective was taking hold. The shifts between secularist and fundamentalist rule in Iran seems to be simultaneously portrayed in the film, as the younger generation is resistant to the older, more traditional generation's ideas.

An alternate ending to the film could be, instead of renouncing the cultural norm by accompanying Zinat on the truck to pursue further medical care for Ashraf’s daughter, Hamed might choose to stay in the village. This would convey the message that Hamed was still conflicted, and wishes to continue living by the more traditional customs and roles. But what would happen to Zinat? After her trip to get further healthcare for the child, would she come back and continue to resist the more conventional role? If she came back, would she persevere in her objective to work in healthcare or would she again find herself pressured to align with a more traditional role in her community? Or would she even come back? Then what? And what are the current implications in the culture for not staying married and fulfilling your "obligations"?