User Reviews

This twin-screen video installation is captivating work. Shot entirely with a greenish sepia tint; I found the cinematography to be very alluring. The film starts with an extreme close-up of a woman's face, and then slowly zooms out. Gradually the shot reveals she is standing in a hollow of a tree trunk that grows centrally within a walled garden. A barren, semi-desert landscape sprawls beyond this wall. Gradually one starts to understand this sites symbolism; that of being a sacred site, or paradise. It turns out that Tooba is 'the sacred tree of paradise, spoken of in the Qu'ran, which offers shelter and sustenance to everyone in need'. Then, long-shots show masses of people (all dressed in black) clamorously advancing impetuously over the barren landscape; sweeping over and enshrouding it with their dark figures. They reach the garden and invade it. The shots at this point become slow and incredibly absorbing. The twin screens are a key element here; the viewer must decide on what they wish to see. You become completely enveloped by this film; one is rendered motionless by this transfixing and engrossing phenomenon. The film reaches a climax, and we are left to comprehend its implications. Neshat's video installation exposes the fact that even within paradise there is conflict, and does so in such a mesmerizing and (stylistically speaking) utterly enthralling manner.