The Iranian government, he says, has never been exactly clear as to what about the film was objectionable, through it's clear the negative image of Iranian society was a major sticking point. He points to that morning's U.S. news, which is full of a school shooting on the West Coast. That tells me that your schools are not safe, that there are security problems there. But I'm not going to blame the television for broadcasting that. Iranian filmmakers in the post-revolutionary era, Panahi ventures, have been inspired by De Sica precisely because the circumstances of their time mirror De Sica's own.
Filmmakers always have to respond to the social environment.
If the social environment dictates that you make certain movies, you make them. See Sam Adams' review in Movie Shorts . All rights reserved.