Ahmad Mirahsan emphasized: Resistance in Iranian culture means standing on the truth, and this issue has been mentioned in works such as the Shahnameh and Quranic texts.
In an interview with the Resistance International Film Festival news site, Seyyed Ahmad Mirahsan, a film critic, examined the various dimensions of this phenomenon regarding the concept of resistance at the Resistance International Film Festival.
He said: In Quranic culture, the issue of resistance has been used to mean standing up, and there are various derivatives of it in the Quran, including Surah Fatiha, which refers to the straight path. This standing up in the Quran is considered standing up for the truth, not an unjust issue. Just as many narrations have also mentioned the issue of resistance and standing up for the lineage.
The film critic added: This issue is also very important in ancient and ancient Iranian culture. Iran, as a bridge-like entity that connects the East and the West, has always been the target of false attacks. One of the foundations of Iranian existence, which is also addressed in the Shahnameh, is the issue of monotheism, which has been a topic for Iranians since ancient times in the form of the divine world.
He continued: Iran has always had an aspect connected to the unseen world, and in relation to the issue of government, before encountering the authority of the jurist in Islam, in the Iranian world, with a monotheistic perspective, two types of government are depicted: the divine government and the demonic government, which appears in the Shahnameh in the form of Fereydoun versus Zahhak. The divine government in ancient Iran is shown with the symbol of the divine light, which in Islamic and Shiite culture, we have it in the form of the light of authority, and the roots of the saying of the Prophet (PBUH) that if knowledge is in the sky, the people of Salman will attain it, also go back to this Iranian knowledge of the truth of existence.
Mirahsan stated: The second foundation of Iranian existence is the discussion of development versus destruction. In both of these issues, we are faced with the battle between right and wrong and resistance to wrong, even before Islam. For example, Iranian civilization faced the devastating Assyrian invasion in the past, or it faced the issue of preserving the monotheistic and Abrahamic religion, which was the religion of Prophet Moses at that time, when he was under pressure and an attempt was made by Cyrus to free the believers of that religion.
He continued: Therefore, it must be said that this resistance is a culture for us before it is a political matter and is a kind of Iranian existence and being. This is why Iranians resist easily. If the Resistance Festival bases its understanding of resistance on this perspective, it will find a broad vision that goes far beyond military war or political struggle, of course, that is also important in its place.
The film critic added: For the Resistance Festival, we must also start from the ontology of resistance, which is directly related to being a servant of God and establishing the right. This is the same as when the Quran talks about prayer, the Quran does not say to pray, but rather it says to perform the prayer and be steadfast in the truth. Prayer is not just a language, but the whole being of a human being must be steadfast and steadfast in righteous deeds, ethics, and thought. This understanding of resistance gives us a lot of power in the field of art and culture, which is today called soft war. Therefore, the first resistance is in the political and military arena, which is the product of the Islamic Revolution, and of course, in this arena too, the fulfillment of religion has not been completed. The second resistance is in the general concept and ontological understanding that we must specify how this general matter should lead to the production of various works of art and films.
Mirahsan emphasized: We must bring the culture of resistance to ancient Iran and, by referring to books such as the Shahnameh, whose theme is the defense of the province, we must bring myths such as the confrontation between Fereydoun and Zahhak, which are glorious examples of resistance, into the scripts. While countries like South Korea create fake history for themselves and turn it into series that sell worldwide, we, who have the most fascinating dramatic narratives within our history, should use it.
