Be like others ((also
known as Transsexual in Iran) Geregisseerd door Tanaz
Eshaghian, Canada, United Kingdom, United
States, France, 2008, 74 min.
Iran kent in haar
strenge Islamitische cultuur en wetgeving weinig
plaats voor hen die buiten de grenzen vallen van het gebruikelijke
leven. De groep mensen die in deze documentaire belicht worden leven
ver over deze grenzen heen. Het zijn jonge Iraniërs die zich opgesloten
voelen in een verkeerd lichaam en overgaan tot een geslachtsoperatie.
Er wordt getracht inzicht te geven in de problematiek rond deze
situatie in een land waar nuance omtrent seksualiteit ver te zoeken is.
Although homosexual
relationships are illegal (punishable by death) in
Iran, sex reassignment operations are permitted. In 1987, Islamic
leader Ayatollah Khomeini passed a fatwa allowing sex-change operations
as a cure for "diagnosed transsexuals". Be Like Others shows the
experiences of male and female patients at Dr. Bahram Mir-Jalali's
Mirdamad Surgical Centre, a sex-reassignment clinic in Tehran. One of
them is Ali Askar, a 24-year-old man who faces harassment from other
men due to his feminine appearance and behaviour. He does not want to
become a woman but sees no other options for him in Iranian society. He
decides to go ahead with the surgery despite death threats from his
father and finds support from Vida, a post-operative transsexual he
meets at the clinic. By the end of the film, Ali has become a woman
named Negar. She has been disowned by her family, experienced
depression and has had to work as a prostitute. Twenty-year-old Anoosh
is another young man who has been ostracised due to his femininity. His
boyfriend feels more comfortable when Anoosh dresses as a woman, and in
contrast to Ali, Anoosh's mother is supportive of his desire to change
sex. The end of the film shows Anoosh – now Anahita – happy and engaged
to her boyfriend. However, her boyfriend has become increasingly
distant since Anahita had her surgery.
Throughout the film, the
patients of the sex-reassignment clinic assert
that they are not homosexual, seeing homosexuality as something that is
shameful and immoral Eshaghian's opinion is that this shame is the
driving force behind so many Iranians deciding to change their sex. She
says that identifying as transsexual rather than homosexual allows them
to live free from harassment.
At first, Westerners may
find the Iranian state's support of sex change
operations contradictory in light of their views on homosexuality.
However, Be Like Others reveals the reasoning behind this apparent
disagreement: while homosexuality is considered a shameful choice,
transsexuality is thought of as a curable mental illness. Dr. Bahram
Mir-Jalali, performs more sex-change operations in a year than the
entire country of France does in 10 years. Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad has notoriously proclaimed that there are no homosexuals in
Iran, as it is clear that homosexuality has become interchangeable with
transsexuality due to fear and repression. The film walks us through
the lives of individuals undergoing this procedure and gives us a look
into what life is like afterwards.
