Made in the brief democratic opening after the Iranian Revolution, O.K. Mister is certainly one of the most bizarre political comedies ever made. Set in the "Land of Roses and Nightingales", Sir William Knox D'Arcy has arrived to speculate for oil and bring western culture to the rural villagers. In tow are his minions: the American journalist Stanley, Cinderella, and the crooked archeologist Sir Henry. Hypnotized by Coca-Cola, cheeseburgers, and petrodollars, the villagers abandon their traditional way of life and throw themselves into the new hedonistic world with abandon. O.K. Mister recalls the best outings of Monty Python, the film is full of bizarre visual gags, bright colors, elaborate sets, and slapstick humor. Scenes of hapless villagers excavating archaeological treasures for the British are set to the tune of the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs soundtrack, Frank Sinatra plays during an English lesson given by Cinderella, D'Arcy gets himself drunk on oil; the satire is acidic and in your face. There is no such thing as subtlety here. O.K. Mister is a genuinely gut-splittingly funny movie, and its message is as relevant as ever in this age of unceasing globalization. If it fails in any area, though, it is its failure to show something deeper than just the colorful political comedy. Towards the end, when the villagers re-learn how to speak their native language again, we are given a hint of the true human element, but it just is not enough.
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