Iran's Unlikely TV hit show

No doubt the human interest story is important to its popularity. This is a subtle form of propoganda, not like: I was a Communist for the FBI and others of that ilk.

Iran's Unlikely TV Hit Show Sympathetic to Plight Of Jews During the
Holocaust Draws Millions Each Week
By FARNAZ FASSIHI
WSJ
September 7, 2007; Page B1

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.

"Iranians have always differentiated between ordinary Jews and a
minority of
Zionists," says Hassan Fatthi, the show's writer and director. "The
murder
of innocent Jews during World War II is just as despicable, sad and
shocking
as the killing of innocent Palestinian women and children by racist
Zionist
soldiers," he says.

Mr. Fatthi, 48 years old, is a well-known director of historical
fiction for
television. In the past, his work has focused on Iranian history. But
he
also dabbles in comedy, winning international critical acclaim two
years ago
for a hit feature, "Marriage, Iranian Style."

He says he came up with the idea for "Zero Degree Turn" four years ago
as he
was reading books about World War II and stumbled across literature
about
charge d'affaires at the Iranian embassy in Paris. Abdol Hussein
Sardari
saved over a thousand European Jews by forging Iranian passports and
claiming they belonged to an Iranian tribe.

Mr. Fatthi says he chose the title because the world at the time was in
dire
circumstances, offering few options for avoiding the terrors to come.
Shot
on location in Paris and Budapest, the show stars Iranian heartthrob
Shahab
Husseini and is so popular that its theme song -- an ode to getting
lost in
love -- is a hit, too.

"It's captivating. No matter where I am or what I'm doing, on Monday
nights
I find a television set and watch the show. So does every Jewish person
I
know here," says Morris Motamed, the lone Jew in parliament.

Mr. Fatthi enlisted the help of Iran's Jewish Association, an
independent
body that safeguards the community's culture and heritage. The
association
has criticized Mr. Ahmadinejad's comments about the Holocaust but has
praised Mr. Fatthi's show.

Iran is home to some 25,000 Jews, the largest population in the Middle
East
outside of Israel. Iran's Jews -- along with Christians and Zorastrians
--
are guaranteed equal rights in the country's constitution. Iran's Jews
are
guaranteed one member of parliament and are free to study Hebrew in
school,
pray in synagogues and shop at kosher supermarkets. Despite Mr.
Ahmadinejad's statements, it isn't government policy to question the
Holocaust, and the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
hasn't
endorsed those views.

While Iran makes it no secret that it considers Israel an enemy, it has
been
extremely touchy about criticism of its treatment of Jewish citizens.
The
show is seen as an effort by the government to erase the image that it
may
be anti-Semitic -- both at home among Jews and non-Jews, and abroad.

"In this show, you notice that a new method of political dialogue is
being
promoted that is more in line with the modern world," says Mohammad Ali
Abtahi, a reformist cleric and former Iranian vice president.

The message appears to be grabbing the public. Sara Khatibi, a
35-year-old mother and chemist in Tehran, says she and her husband
never
miss an episode. "All we ever hear about Jews is rants from the
government
about Israel," she says. "This is the first time we are seeing another
side
of the story and learning about their plight."

The show also pushes Iran's political line regarding the legitimacy of
Israel: The Jewish state was conceived in modern times by Western
powers
rather than as part of a centuries-old desire of Jews for a return to
their
ancestral homeland. In one scene, a rabbi declares it a bad idea for
Jews to
resettle in Arab lands. In another, the French Jewish protagonist
refuses a
marriage offer by a cousin, who is advocating the creation of Israel.

Iran has long used TV to shape public opinion, where newspapers and the
Internet are seen as media for the elite. The state's control over
radio and
television is enshrined in the constitution. Ayatollah Khamenei, the
supreme
leader, is not only head of the armed forces and the judiciary, but
also the
national broadcast authority.

"The regime appreciates the fact that to appeal to the masses, both in
Iran
and the Muslim world, television is the most important outlet," says
Karim
Sadjadpour, an expert on Iran at the Carnegie Endowment for
International
Peace in Washington.

On any given day, the country's seven state-run channels broadcast a
mostly
drab offering of news, sports, cooking shows, soap operas and religious
sermons. Political propaganda is constantly fed into the mix.
Dissidents
such as students or reformers are routinely paraded before cameras to
read
confessions after stints of solitary imprisonment.

A slick documentary-style program recently aired long interviews with
two
Iranian-Americans who were detained on allegations of working to
overthrow
the regime. The interviews -- in which the pair blandly admitted to
meeting
with Iranian scholars and dissidents, but not to attempting to topple
the
government -- were intercut with provocative scenes of demonstrations
in
Ukraine, where the U.S. encouraged groups that eventually staged the
successful Orange Revolution in late 2004.

In July, Iran launched a 24-hour English-language satellite news
channel
called Press TV, joining the ranks of the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera. Its
Arabic news channel, Al Alam, has been broadcasting news with an
Iranian
slant in the Arab world for several years.

Episodes of "Zero Degree Turn," broadcast in Farsi, can be seen outside
of
Iran on the Internet, either streaming live or downloaded at
tv1.irib.ir/barnameha/sharhefilm.asp?code=00111090361062. It is also
broadcast with English subtitles on the state-controlled Jameh Jam
satellite
channel, which is available on Europe's Hot Bird satellite network. Mr.
Fatthi also says Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting has been
contacted
about selling the show to networks in other countries, but he doesn't
know
which ones.

* * *