A couple of months ago, I watched a theater play on the conditions set by the office of foreign affairs that refugee children must face, when applying for the family reunification process in Germany. I left the play with a mixed feeling of discomfort and anger. These feelings came back when I watched Mona & Parviz. Being part of this year’s Minikino Youth Jury Award, the German short film represents a relevant depiction of the degrading processes behind the German foreigner office. Taking a clear stance, Mona & Parviz confronted me with a reality that provokes appalling concerns about the “welcomeness” of my home country.
One morning, two unknown people ring Mona’s and Parviz doorbell: They introduce themselves as employees of the foreign affairs office and have come to verify the marriage situation between Mona and Parviz. Parviz is from Iran and depends on his marriage to obtain a residence permit. But since he is currently not home, Mona must face the probing investigation of the employees alone. When Parviz finally arrives, he seems intimidated by their presence and questions. In the end, Parviz announces to them the news about Mona’s pregnancy.
Until the end of the film, the viewer is left in the dark about whether their marriage is sincere or pretended. There are several reasons that let us take the distrustful attitude of the authority. For example, Mona does not wear her wedding ring, and the responses of the two show inconsistencies, making us feel like the two just got “caught”. However, it also reinforces the empathy that we feel towards the couple.
Throughout the narrative, the film reflects the issue of racism on multiple levels. The main premise represents the structural racism that the two must face, personified in the appearance of the two employees that arouse the impression to resent some sort of satisfaction by the thought of catching the two. Throughout the film, the intimacy of their interrogations knows no borders, and their viewing of the flat is more than intruding. No wonder that Mona asks at some point: “What else do you want to see? Our Sextape?”. This intrusion is also found in the camera work of the film. Using a handheld camera throughout the process, we follow the protagonists with an obtrusive closeness through the flat, taking part in all intimacies of their marriage.
In addition, while inspecting the flat, one of the employees asks Mona in an over-friendly friendly tone: “Did you meet here or in your home country?”. In a moment of disbelief, Mona answers: “I was born here”. But he still doesn’t seem to accept her answer.
We would think that people nowadays are not that ignorant to automatically assume that someone is not German due to a darker skin or a foreign name. Or that in a supposedly open country, people don’t have to explain themselves due to their appearances. Or that in general, the color of your skin doesn’t play a part anymore. But Mona & Parviz prove differently.
In doing so, the film reflects the reality of people from the Middle-East that must confront structural and everyday racism. It further depicts the challenging and repetitive processes behind the residence approval, that, at the end, offer no certain outcome for the applicants. And it shows the endurance and humiliation that people must go through, as they depend on the “good-naturedness” of the employees responsible for foreign affairs.
This topic is certainly not addressed for the first time in this film. But as it shows, there seems to be no visible change. During the past years, we could see an alarming growing anti- refugee, asylum-seekers, or migrant rhetoric and violence in Germany. This especially concerns people coming or descending from Middle Eastern or African countries. It shows the strong urgency of films like Mona & Parviz that address issues of racism.
At the end of the film, we can see the pressure building up on Parviz. To convince the two employees, he tells them about the pregnancy of his wife, making them eventually leave the apartment. Handing Mona over a pregnancy test, which purchase explains his prior absence, she locks herself up in the toilet. Whether she is ultimately pregnant or not remains open. At least, we have the certainty that the two are not faking their relationship. But in the end, does that really matter?
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