Weekend DVD Pick: Unveiled
German Film Tells the Story of Iranian Immigrant
The original title of this film is 'Fremde Haut', which means 'in Orbit' - the term officially used by the UN to refer to asylum-seekers who find themselves orbiting around planet Earth because they can actually find legal domicile nowhere at all. This is a perfect description for the main character in this film, Fariba, brilliantly performed by Jasmin Tabatabai.
Throughout the film, Fariba is constantly in conflict: not quite at home in Germany or Iran, not not quite at peace as either straight or gay, not quite at ease as man or as woman.
Prosecuted in Iran because of her love for a woman, Fariba flees to Germany. But her application for asylum is turned down. Her desperate prospects are improved by the suicide of her fellow-inmate, a man named Siamak, who has received a temporary permit of sojourn just before his death. Assuming his identity, she is sent to a refugee camp near a small German village.
At first her survival seems to be assured, but the strain of upholding her male disguise in the cramped refugee quarters reveals the threat that a single mistake could blow her cover. In order to pay for forged documents, Fariba takes an illegal job in a sauerkraut factory, where she meets Anne, played by Anneke Kim Samau (The Constant Gardner). The two grow close - indeed dangerously close for Farbia as Anne begins to suspect her true identity.
With brilliant performances by both Tabatabai and Samau, the unlikely yet powerful relationship between these women will quickly draw you in. But Unveiled is much more than a relationship film. Anyone will also walk away with a deeper understanding of the challenges Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) immigrants face.
Unveiled has been released on DVD by Wolfe Video. It was selected as one of Advocate Magazine's Top 10 Films of 2006.
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