"One Ring to Rule Them All" - Farsi edition

In the worst of times, when the horror mounts, some brave souls find humor, or at least a grim irony approaching humor. In Iran this week the government, in an effort to get people to stay at home and be quiet, is showing the "Lord of the Rings" on TV, all dubbed expertly into Farsi.

Problem is, there is a lot gained in translation, an Iranian observer at Salon.com tells us.

Back to "Lord of the Rings." Gandalf the Gray returns to the Fellowship as Gandalf the White. He casts a blinding white light, and his face is hidden behind a halo. "Imam zaman e?!" someone in the room asks. Is it the Mahdi, the last imam and, according to Shia Islam, the savior of mankind?

Guess who the Orcs are? And the Hobbits and Dwarfs are called "Kootoole", little person in Farsi. And Kootoole is also the nickname the demonstrators call Amadinejad. The cross cultural connotations continue:

Back to the movie. Gandalf's white steed strides into the frame. It is instantly transformed by local viewers into Rostam's mythical horse, Rakhsh. Rostam, the great dragon-slaying champion of Ferdowsi's poetic epic "Shahnameh," which recounts the whole history of Iran.

Hilarious, if you are in the mood for it. Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think. (I can never remember who first said that).

sorry for being so silent of late, but I am glued to the computer following the news in Iran and this little piece is about all I can bring myself to write.