ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the character of martyrdom as heroic action in filmfarsi narratives. It explores how the films engaged with the legal-political institutions of the Pahlavi regime, which formed the backbone of what one might call the "official" civil religion. The chapter deals with an examination of the character of martyrdom and self-sacrifice in Persianate and especially post-Safavid Shiite myth and history. It explores how during the century martyrdom was implicated in popular assertions of the divinity of the Iranian nation. Martyrdom as a liberating practice would in turn come to play a key role in native filmmakers' strategies of engaging audience emotions and articulating modern social values and aspirations from practically the beginnings of the popular commercial cinema. National leaders in Iran, for their part, in various ways and with varying degrees of success, have communicated to and alongside the masses the need for self-sacrifice and martyrdom as a means to achieve national prosperity and social justice.
