イラクで最も人気のあるテレビドラマてるてる日記/ウェブリブログ

イラクで最も人気のあるテレビドラマ

<< 作成日時： 2005/05/14 15:57 >>

New York Timesに、イラクで最も人気のあるテレビドラマが紹介されていました。このドラマは、イラク国内に住んでいる人々だけでなく、国外のイラク人にも人気があるそうです。ある婦人は、ヒロインの母親が自爆テロで殺されるシーンで泣いてしまい、ルーマニアにいる姉妹に電話をかけると、彼女も同じドラマを見ていたそうです。

ドラマのタイトルは、"Love and War"です。

主人公は、FawziとFatinという、若いカップルです。一方が貧しく、一方が金持ちの家の出身なので、親に結婚を反対されるが、なんとか結婚にこぎつける、というのがあらすじです。
善良な人々が、暴力の充満した世界で、なんとか、良い生き方をし、幸せをつかもうと苦闘する姿は、多くのイラクの人々の現実そのものであり、共感を呼んでいます。
コメディータッチのメロドラマのなかで、頻繁に、自爆テロや誘拐といった事件が起こります。ドラマの作り手は、この作品が外国のドラマに比べて一つだけ得したことは、ヘリコプターや戦車がただで撮影できたことだ、と述べています。USAの兵士も随所に登場します。

New York Timesの記事の見出しでは、"tragicomedy"という言葉が使われていましたが、このドラマの主演俳優は、我々はblack comedyの世界に住んでいるのだ、とインタビューに答えていました。

Tragicomedy of Life in Baghdad
"Love and War," Iraq's most popular television drama, mixes slapstick with a brutally frank portrayal of the violence there.

The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/

Tragicomedy of Life in Baghdad Is Brought Home in a TV Series

By ROBERT F. WORTH
Published: May 14, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 13 - One morning last month, Qasim al-Malakh, one of Iraq's best-known actors, stood near a dusty vacant lot in a dangerous part of southern Baghdad. He was dressed immaculately in a dark suit and tie, and his co-star, Nagham al-Sultani, stood next to him in a white bridal gown.

They were there to film the last episode of "Love and War," Iraq's most popular television drama. Their characters, Fawzi and Fatin, had just married after a long and troubled romance.

But now it was time for the final scene, and a little dose of Iraqi reality. The cameras zoomed in on a car carrying the newlyweds to their honeymoon. At a signal from the director, the car exploded, sending thick curtains of flame and black smoke into the sky.

Fawzi and Fatin, like so many real Iraqis, had fallen victim to a suicide bomber.

The episode, which will be broadcast in June, is the finale of a series that has captivated Iraqis since it was first shown last year. "Love and War" is a black comedy that could only have been made in Iraq. It mixes slapstick and even a few Bollywood-style musical numbers with a brutally frank portrayal of the violence here. Several of its main characters die in bombings, others are kidnapped and tanks and helicopters are a constant backdrop.

"We wanted to reflect the real atmosphere of life in Iraq," said the show's director and chief writer, Jamal Abed Jassim. "You could get kidnapped here any time. Or a bomb could kill you. This is our life."

（中略）

Even the show's comic moments can be violent. In one episode, Fawzi is so busy flirting with Fatin that he fails to notice his car - the hand brake left off - rolling backward downhill. It rolls all the way to an American military checkpoint, where the soldiers, mistaking it for a car bomb, riddle it with bullets.

"Love and War" does not always live up to Western production standards. Most of it was filmed outdoors in Baghdad, and it sometimes has the improvised look of a student film.

But improvisation is part of its charm. Often during the filming, American soldiers walked up, alarmed at the sight of all the cameras, actors and extras. Mr. Jassim often turned the camera onto the soldiers - or the helicopters - and integrated them into the episode.

"When you put up a microphone, the helicopter pilots always think it's a rocket-propelled grenade or a gun," said Mr. Malakh, an elegant 60-year-old who looks, and plays, characters 15 years younger. The constant interruptions often delayed the filming, he said. But they had a side benefit.

"In other countries getting a tank or a helicopter costs thousands of dollars," Mr. Malakh said. "Here we get it for free." Making the entire first season of "Love and War" cost about $150,000, he said.

（中略）

After one episode last year in which Fawzi's mother was killed in a suicide bombing, Balkes Razzak, a Baghdad homemaker, found herself sobbing, she said. She called her sister in Romania, who had been watching, too. "It was the talk of all the people in Iraq, and even of the people who live abroad," Ms. Razzak said.

（中略）

Mr. Malakh said tragedy was the only appropriate way to end the series. "This is our life," he said. "I'm laughing with you now, but for all I know my house has been bombed. This is the black comedy we live."

＊参照
イラクのメディアをあつかっているブログによると、"Love and War"では、イラクを占領しているUSAの人々のことは間接的に描かれているとのことです。
たとえば、主人公の友人が、アメリカ人のために通訳としてはたらいていると主張する大金を持った男に会ったとき、自分だったら、「占領者のためには働かない」と返事をする場面があるそうです。

Iraq Media Developments
http://www.stanhopecentre.org/blogs/iraqmedia/archives/2004/07/iraqis_tune_in.html
July 03, 2004
Iraqis tune in to everyday tale of life under occupation - Financial Times

A television soap drawing its themes from daily reality in Iraq is proving a big draw, reports James Drummond.

（中略）

There have been, so far, no direct roles for Americans in Love and War, but they are mentioned.

One of the main jokes revolves around Fawzi's best friend, Ahmed, who is very short. He is courting a neighbour, Lubna, but in doing so is pretending he is six feet tall. He stands on a box to flirt with her across a garden wall. She cannot see the box.

But Ahmed is a staunch friend to Fawzi. And, when faced with a man with a bundle of dollars who claims that he is working as a translator for the Americans, he says derisively that he "will never work for the occupiers".

Mr Zain al-Abdin denies that he is avoiding painful and potentially dangerous issues.

"How do you deal with occupation? No one wants to be occupied. We will not write about it now - maybe we will write about it in 10 years. The Americans are not writing about September 11 yet," he says.

（後略）