In Pakistan, Trouble Looms for 'English' Films
By DAVID ROHDE
ESHAWAR, Pakistan — About a dozen young Pakistani men stood in silent clusters in front of the Shama movie theater on a recent night, doing their best to look casual. But when the box office opened, the rush was on.
The young men standing near the entrance surged forward and tried to slip in before anyone could see them. A few older men emerged from the shadows and darted inside. Stragglers arrived for the next 15 minutes, including one young man who held a scarf in front of his face as he entered the theater.
It was "English movie" night here in Peshawar, Pakistan's conservative Islamic and famously anti-American city near the Afghan border. But for the next two hours, what appeared on screen had nothing to do with the American movies advertised outside.
First came three Indian music videos featuring curvy starlets with long, shimmering black hair, clingy shirts and, in one or two scenes, gently sashaying hips. An abrupt reel change later, the screen flickered with a series of Pashto-language stag films: Pakistani women in bathing suits and underwear gyrating, singing and taking off their tops.
But in the end, it was the Great Satan that delivered the night's feature presentation: a hardcore 1970's-era pornographic film starring an American bleached-blonde named Jennifer Welles.
Dubbed in German, the film opened with a lengthy conversation in an apartment that seemed to bore the packed gallery, which by now reeked of hashish. The plot quickly thickened. In a fast-paced scene set in a barn, two young women gave a returning Confederate soldier what could only be described as a hero's welcome.
Outside the theater, a pleasant, middle-age man who identified himself as the manager explained to an American visitor that the evening's bill had 60 minutes to go and that the theater also showed "Dutch, French and Spanish" films. He went on to suggest that a looming antipornography campaign here could prove a danger.
"If this closes, there will be more terrorism in their minds," he said, referring to his patrons. "If they see these movies, they are satisfied."
The manager's concern stemmed from the electoral triumph last month of a coalition of six hard-line religious parties, which for the first time will control the provincial government here and hold 20 percent of seats in the national Parliament.
In addition to imposing Islamic law and driving American soldiers and F.B.I. agents from Pakistan, the parties have vowed to ban pornography and end Ms. Welles's career in Pakistan. The nightly appearance of her and her contemporaries is one of the worst-kept secrets along the old colonial-era roadway called the Grand Trunk road.
While some patrons of the Shama theater seemed horrified by the prospect of discovery, one middle-aged customer with bloodshot eyes who appeared to be a regular happily defended the pastime.
"We like these movies," the man said. "These people watching these films are doing everything, hashish, everything. They enjoy it."
He and the manager argued that closing the theater would "do nothing" because pornographic videos and DVD's are available across the city. "You can go to every video shop; they sell it," the manager said.
Opponents of the religious parties also point out that previous crackdowns both here and in Afghanistan in the 1980's and 90's may have curbed "sin" but did not eliminate it.
Human vice has endured, liberal voices here say, as it has for centuries, with harsh penalties only driving underground activities like drug use, drinking and pornography.
Despite the substantial social taboo here, a sizeable number of people attend "English movies," according to both supporters and detractors of the theater. Nearby shop owners and the theater manager estimated that at least 70 to 80 men attended each of its two daily screenings — about the number in attendance on this recent night.
"It's mostly young men and some old men," said Amin Gul, an 18-year-old clerk in a nearby photo-developing store. "Like 15- to 18-year-olds and men over 55."
Mr. Gul and a half dozen other nearby merchants all strongly supported the drive to shutter the theater. One merchant simply said Islam forbade it. But others, echoing American parents, said pornography was something children should not see.
Pakistani observers say the recent success of the Islamic parties reflects a weary public's desire to try any new system, including Islamic law, that might reduce the corruption, lawlessness, violence and poverty that spread in the 1990's under the rule of secular, mainstream parties.
Many Pakistanis described their support for the ban on pornography as something that would help maintain social order, an idea with far deeper resonance in this long unstable country than in the United States.
"If it closes the cinema, it will be good," Mr. Gul said, referring to the new government. "Our young generation will be safe."
With the religious parties set to take control of the provincial government in the next several weeks, trouble appears to lie ahead for the Shama theater. But the manager said he knew exactly what he would do if the government shut down his nightly international film festival.
"We will go to New York," he said.
In Pakistan, Trouble Looms for 'English' Films
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