On Ekhrajiha

Directed by Masoud Dehnamaki, the trilogy Ekhrajiha (literally meaning outcasts) the best-selling in the history of not only Iran-Iraq war movies, but also Iranian cinema sparked off considerable debate among directors, producers, actors and intellectuals over the truth or falsity of its critical value. In order to diagnose the psychic economy of its viewers, this article makes a symptomatic reading of the trilogy on the basis of Jacques Lacan’s and Slavoj Zizek’s theories. Dehnamaki desubstantializes the Iran-Iraq war through thecomic narration of traumatic events of the contemporary history of Iran. That is why the popularity of his trilogy indicates the desire of Iranian audiences to forget the war period. If, as Zizek believes, desubstantialization of reality is the basic feature of postmodern society, Dehnamaki’s trilogy is a good example of postmodern cinema of war.