Ambiguity In Concerning The Bodyguard

Concerning the Bodyguard: An Exercise in the Implied

Kasra Farahani's Concerning the Bodyguard examines issues of political loyalty, oppression, and culpability, all through the stoic persona of an unnamed bodyguard.

Based on the 1978 eponymous story by Donald Barthelme, the film follows the character of 'the bodyguard' as he goes about his daily duties protecting 'the principal.' Excerpts from the story read by writer Salman Rushdie accompany the shots, mostly phrased in the form of questions that range from probing to banal. The combination of visual and voiceover creates tension and doubt.

The film achieves a balancing act between anonymity and particularity. Small details such as graffiti—Arabic writing, a hammer and sickle,

The split screen shot showing the various bodyguards and their similar appearances—clean-shaven, cropped haircuts—emphasizes their interchangeability. However, "the new bodyguard" represents a different form of anonymity from the rest. He stands out through adjectival distinction and in terms of appearance—his mustache. His lack of conformity and the questions that accompany his image make the audience begin to suspect his intentions and loyalties. His ambiguity creates an anonymity grounded in the unknown that is threatening. The menacing nature of anonymity appears in another guise. The crowds of people staring down the principal are described: "they cannot be known. They cannot be predicted. They have volition." Where the anonymity of the bodyguards seems to deprive them of choice, the anonymity of the masses grants them

But the filmmaker does something subtler—in the small details he chooses, the audience is able to infer a deeply human character behind the opaque façade. The very distinction of adding "the" to his title suggests a certain singularity about him. We are given details that shade the bodyguard's class background such as "at what level of education did the bodyguard leave school?"—suggesting that he did leave school prematurely—or "has the bodyguard noticed a difference in quality between his suit and that of his principal's?"—drawing attention to disparate socioeconomics. Perhaps the most revealing moment of all is when the bodyguard buys his principal's son a peach. It is a gesture of tenderness, but also shows his yearning for his own son, who lives in a far away town. Through inference, the audience sees the bodyguard as more of a pawn, a symbol of status yet with little authority over