Hey what's up guys
Today I'll show you a drama film: "Persian Lessons"
Spoiler ahead, watch out and take care
The movie begins with a young Jewish man named Gilles,
captured and arrested along with the other Jews by the German Soldiers
While on their way to the concentration and labor camp,
an unknown man in the truck begins interacting with Gilles
The strange man starts asking for food in exchange for his limited-edition book
Skeptical at first, Gilles generously chooses to offer half of his handful of bread to get the book
As he reads and skims the pages, he realizes that this book contains Persian legends and poetry
In the middle of their trip to the camp,
the soldiers abruptly plan to kill and gun these detained individuals
They stop in the forest, and unhesitatingly shoot the defenseless Jews
When the soldiers attempt to fire their rifles at the Jews,
Gilles drops on purpose to make them believe that he is dead
Unluckily, one of the soldiers recognizes the Jewish tactics, so he tries to kill Gilles again
However, the Persian legends book becomes a saving grace, when Gilles stops them from killing him
He insists that he is just misidentified as a Jew
With such desperation, he then shows the book to convince them,
and prove the nationality as half Persian
Coincidentally, the soldiers have been looking for Persian as ordered by their officer
Indeed, Gilles's simple,
generous act of sharing the bread saves him from total devastation temporarily
Little does he know how simple Persian Poetry can be a blessing in disguise,
and offer new chances of living
Meanwhile, a mid-grade officer in charge of the concentration camp's kitchen, named Koch,
gets hysterical because of his secretary's incomprehensible penmanship to the logbook
When the soldiers arrive at the base, they quickly send Gilles to the kitchen officer,
as he has been waiting for the chance of having a Persian prisoner
Furthermore, the kitchen officer seeks to learn the Persian language, Farsi,
to build a restaurant in Iran once the war is over
With his untruthful claims, Gilles receives several questions
and interrogations from the doubtful kitchen officer
Eventually, he convinces the kitchen officer about his false nationality,
by emphasizing he owns the book, and translating a few words into fake Farsi
These fabrications and lies allow him to extend his life and escape sudden death
Since Gilles successfully persuades the officer about his fake nationality,
he will work in the kitchen everyday
He will also go to the office to teach the Farsi language
One day, the camp imposes its strict internal regulations and rules on the new prisoners
An atmosphere of fear arises among the Jews, as failure to obey the task can cause death
Gilles cautiously works on his first day in the kitchen,
while worrying about his most essential job every shift, teaching the kitchen officer about Farsi
What makes him worried and afraid is he is also not familiar with the said language
To survive the chambers of hell,
he rigorously invents new words on top of his mind for every piece of equipment he sees in the kitchen
He tries to memorize all the newly-created words for consistency of the translation,
and to avoid any suspicion
While working in the kitchen, he recites those words silently to recall all the gibberish
During the first night of teaching,
Gilles discovers the primary reason why the kitchen officer is eager to learn the language
This is because the officer plans to migrate to Iran, meet his brother,
and follow his restaurant pursuits
They start with the Farsi translation of the things in the kitchen or food,
and aim for six words a day
Luckily, Gilles' efforts payoff since he remembers all the words he just invented
Not only that, these words become his prayer at night,
as he keeps on saying those words to remember them by heart
One day, while the kitchen officer reads what they have studied,
the jealous soldier enters his room to report something
According to the soldier, Gilles is pretending to be a Persian who is Jewish by blood
Unfortunately, the kitchen officer does not believe the soldier's assumptions,
as it appears to be baseless and invalid
Consequently, the kitchen officer also removes his previous secretary due to unreadable handwriting
He then assigns Gilles to write legibly in the register's book
Although the kitchen officer does not consider the previous soldier's report,
he still wants to ensure that Gilles is telling the truth of being a real Persian
Testing the honesty of the clever young man,
the kitchen officer decides to assign forty words to be translated in one night
In the afternoon, the previous secretary expresses her distress to the soldier,
after being replaced in writing the prisoners' log
They then plan to kill and eliminate the Gilles out of their way
The soldier executes his plan, when the young man is about to throw the garbage
The jealous soldier lets Gilles escape, and encourages him to run out of the camp
With no question, Gilles briskly runs for his life,
until he meets a white-haired older man in the middle of the forest
This white-haired older man stops him from running,
and enlightens him that there is no way to escape in the said forest
Gilles conveys his frustrations of having to invent 40 words and remembering them all
Finally, he decides to go back to the site for his safety
Then, Gilles arrives at the camp safely as if nothing happens
The jealous soldier and the former secretary get surprised after they both see him again in the center
After a few minutes, the kitchen officer calls Gilles for his new task,
which is to write the names of the new prisoners in the camp
As he begins writing the names of the newly-arrived prisoners,
he agonizes about the 40 words he needs to teach to the kitchen officer
With such a confused gaze at the list, he then formulates a bright idea,
of inventing words from the names in the register's book
When the short-tempered kitchen officer begins asking him the equivalent words,
Gilles successfully pronounces and creates the given terms
His impeccable wit leads him to make the gibberish sounds like a Farsi language
Despite the fear of getting caught,
Gilles passionately strives to invent and memorize words every day
While serving food to his fellow Jews in the morning,
he creates a habit of asking their names one by one, and trying to recall them all
He then formulates or extracts gibberish from these first and last names
Meanwhile, the persistent kitchen officer not only learns a new set of words each day,
but masters and practices them at night
The said officer enjoys adding words each day to his vocabulary,
and never stops asking the young man for new translations
One morning, the camp commandant calls the attention of the Kitchen officer for an important task
When the kitchen officer arrives at the office,
the commandant asks him about his journey and his plans for the Persian language
The commandant then declares his tasks to organize a picnic,
and prepare the best foods for thirty people
The night before the celebration, the young man helps the kitchen officer cook the best recipe
Meanwhile, the persistent kitchen officer learns a set of words each day, and masters them at night
The said officer enjoys adding words to his vocabulary,
and never ceases to ask Gilles for new translations
In addition, a bond of friendship starts to form, as the kitchen officer begins sharing his life
He also becomes intrigued, and starts asking questions about concepts such as love and hope
At the picnic event, German soldiers surround the forest with their rhapsody
and overwhelming symphony as they sing together
Since Gilles is under the supervision of the kitchen officer,
he is one of the chosen food servers at the said celebration
While preparing for the next dish, a terrifying commotion arises
The joyful ambiance turns into shame,
when the short-tempered kitchen officer asks him about the Farsi language of "tree"
Unluckily, Gilles unknowingly answers a familiar gibberish,
a term he used already to translate the word "bread"
With his response, the joyful kitchen officer exhibits his evil side, as he suspects a lie
He cries in anger, and rapidly punches Gilles's face several times until blood emerges
He even kicks the face that causes the young man to fall off the ground
At the end of the party, the kitchen officer would like to make Gilles's life miserable,
so he sends him to the jealous soldier
From then, Gilles will no longer work in the kitchen anymore,
but will endure the pain at the quarry
The next day, he begins working in the quarry,
in which the tasks are heavier than his last designation
What makes it more difficult is that the soldiers always bully and punish him in the middle
Until one day, he trembles and collapses due to extreme tiredness and hunger
He passes out, which leads the soldiers to send him to the barracks
While Gilles is resting in the barracks, he remains weak and unconscious
However, the soldier notices that he has been uttering incomprehensible words redundantly
The soldier reports the issue to the kitchen officer,
to see if the said officer can understand what Gilles is saying
As he learns gibberish by heart, Gilles surprisingly utters his invented words repeatedly,
conveying a specific message about his mother
When the kitchen officer hears the young man's phrases, he completely understands everything
After what the officer discovers, he then concludes again that the man is a Persian
He then sends him to the hospital for immediate recovery
One morning, Gilles wakes up in the hospital, and regains consciousness
He receives an order and permission to work again under his superior kitchen officer
He teaches the kitchen officer by testing his current Farsi vocabulary, which is meaningless
This time, the kitchen officer becomes apologetic for the violence
he has previously done against him at the picnic
Next, the kitchen officer goes to the commandant for a request,
since an order of prisoner transport and relocation is approaching
He asks the commandant to exclude and keep the Persian man, as he realizes his importance
The commandant responds with a question and a report, but eventually agrees on the request
The following night, their teaching session becomes meaningful,
as they begin conversing using the invented gibberish language
They start having dialogue, and the kitchen officer gradually shares the details of his life
We can surmise how the young Jewish passionately creates these words
and learn them by the soul to survive
Though all the phrases are meaningless in reality,
it manages to melt the heart of a cruel-reserved officer
After the relocation, Gilles firmly stands his secret,
while there are no pieces of evidence of truth
He walks on the camp, reflecting on the words he needs to add and translate again
Whenever he finds a word, he will convert it based on the emotion he sees or feels
While serving food to the prisoners, he develops a habit of asking their names,
and forming a word from each first and last name
The following day, Gilles works in the kitchen, and performs his daily tasks typically
While baking the bread and pastry,
he witnesses how the Nazi and the German soldiers mercilessly beat a mute Italian prisoner,
for a tiny mistake of being tired
His heart crumples, after seeing the violence and cruelty towards the helpless Italian prisoner
A short while later, the kitchen officer creates a poem using the acquired language,
and immediately shares it with Gilles
Additionally, kindness begins to develop in the kitchen officer's heart after offering food for him
At first, Gilles refuses to eat the food, as he plans to bring it with the mute prisoner
The kitchen officer insists and offers him a can of meat to get to the barracks
With this piece of food, Gilles secretly gives the can to the mute prisoner,
which makes the older brother grateful to him
However, the biggest threat to all the creative lies, starts to appear
The jealous soldier finds a true-blooded Persian in their new sets of prisoners
He plans to confront the pretentious Gilles, and bring him to the real one for a revelation
He also feels victorious, as he sees this as a bridge to expose and kill Gilles
On the other hand, Gilles becomes anxious, as these secrets can lead to his last breath
However, the moment of truth sinks in vain, when the real Persian prisoner gets killed
While the jealous soldier brings the young man to the barracks,
they both recognize the blood flowing in the neck of the true-blooded Persian
The jealous soldier attacks and strangles Gilles tightly
He believes that behind this murder is the pretentious Gilles
Just a few seconds later, the older brother of the Italian prisoner interrupts,
and says that he is responsible for the crime
With no question, the soldier angrily strikes his rifle that ends the older Italian's life
The same day,
the commander also declares a meeting among the officers for a possible transport of their prisoners
as the war is approaching
Not long after, the kitchen officer meets Gilles to assure his safety
According to the kitchen officer, he will make sure that Gilles will never be on the transport list
He also becomes apologetic for the death of an Italian friend
Before the transport of the prisoners,
Gilles exchanges coats with the mute prisoner, who lost his brother
He decides to selflessly take over the place of the Italian in the transport
As the prisoners get closer to their destination,
the kitchen officer receives information about the young Gilles
He then hurriedly chases and orders to claim Gilles, and take him away from the transport
The movie ends with the Kitchen officer and Gilles, who are separating their ways
The officer, with the acquired language, is now ready to flee to Iran, and pursue his plans
Finally, Gilles escapes the transport, and will go the other direction in the forest
At the closure of the film, the kitchen officer's dream collapses,
as the language acquired has no meaning and is mere gibberish
Meanwhile, Gilles testifies the injustice by giving all the names of the victims;
the names which became his source of secret, known as Persian lessons
Truly, the movie emphasizes the creative but desperate ways of a young man in the middle of suffering
It was based on real-life events, orchestrating the desperation to survive war and injustice
This's Daniel CC movie channel Peace out