I saw it as his way to keep himself from hitting his wife. He had all that rage at her that was coming out and he had to do something with it, so he hit himself instead of her.
"My name is Paikea Apirana, and I come from a long line of chiefs stretching all the way back to the Whale Rider."
I do that sometimes too, many others in the Philippines will tend to do a similar thing when they're frustrated & instead of reacting outwardly, will take it on themselves. My interpretation is he was hitting himself out of frustration & at the same time showing his wife, how she was hurting him or how hurt or desperate he was by inflicting it upon himself.
Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel
He was losing it and venting his frustration. It's not something an Iranian person does, it's something an extremely frustrated person does.
His wife said he was taking medication for depression. He was extremely upset with losing his job of 10 years and getting no closure, his inability to find new employment, losing his son, his wife lying to him, his reputation going into the garbage even further because everybody was about to find out she lied, he was losing his damn mind.
Yes, I get that. I can see that kind of frustration can lead to self-mutilation, and self harm. I personally dont know of anyone who did that sort of thing -- I must say, growing up I never saw my parents or other adults ever manifesting that form of behavior. It seems to be extreme. If you remember the other couple's reaction, they looked shocked, too.
you're right! cutting wrists - that's another behavior I cannot comprehend ; I would think one becomes so incredibly desperate to even think of doing that to themselves. It is sadly common among young girls, I guess.
It's an Eastern thing. Externalizing inner turmoil, usually to upset others around them actually. I've always seen it as a way of punishing someone else's wrong doing by having them watch you assault yourself.
You must accept cultural differences. Arabs don't remove their hats when someone dies. They even don't wear hats !. Salute by tongue extrusion exists in Tibet.. you must accept that. Now in the East this called "Latm" or "Head slapping". and it's a gesture meaning : "It's awful !.. I will go crazy..". In arab world, simple people slap their cheeks to express extreme sorrow. I am arab but of course Iranian culture is not far away.