46/34
Chronology
Investigative judge Iman struggles with paranoia amid political unrest in Tehran
When his gun goes missing, he becomes suspicious of his wife and daughters, and enacts draconian measures that strain family ties as social norms crumble. Director Mohamed Rasulof was initially scheduled to participate in the 2023 Cannes Film Festival as a jury member for Un Certain Regard. However, he was arrested in July 2022 after criticizing the government’s crackdown on protesters in the southwestern Iranian city of Abadan over a deadly building collapse. On May 8, 2024, Rasuloff’s lawyer announced that he had been sentenced to eight years in prison, in addition to flogging, fines, and confiscation of property. On May 12, 2024, Rasulof announced that he had managed to escape Iran and was staying at an undisclosed location in Europe. On May 24, 2024, Rasuloff attended the film’s premiere in Cannes and showed photographs of two of the film’s actors, Soheil Golestani and Misa Zare, on the red carpet. Many of us are aware of the recent protests in Iran and the tragic death of Mahsa Amini in 2022.
One step away from the judge
In Iran, the hijab is mandatory and its enforcement is carried out by an overzealous religious police. Outside of Iran, it is difficult to understand that something that seems trivial to us is so important. This film works because it takes us inside a family unit affected by these same issues. It seems to use real protest footage (appropriately disguised) mixed with fictional actors. This gives it a more urgent edge. The husband works as an investigator for the regime. He is under severe pressure at work to handle a large number of religious “crimes” without any due process.
He has two daughters
He learns that the price of his promotion is blind obedience. One in high school and one in college (university). One of the daughters has a boyfriend who is shot after being in the crowd at a protest. We are told that she was an innocent bystander. The mother of the family is very concerned about protecting the family’s status and reputation which will enable her to get a bigger apartment to live in. However, this will not happen if every aspect of life is not kept absolutely clean. They cannot even tell their daughters what dad is doing because he is a security risk.
In the story we see a real Chekhov’s cannon
In one of the first shots of the film, we see the father getting shot and a gun. He is promoted but has to be able to protect himself. Search concept 🙂 A gun goes missing from the apartment and dad has to find it or face jail time for losing it. This raises the tension a few notches and then the film takes a bit of a turn. The main effect of the film is to personalize the various political pressures on each member of the family. The best art takes us beyond the headlines to show what is happening and what it looks and feels like in real life. The story is fictional, but in many ways it reads like a documentary.
I saw this film at the festival
As a film, it manages to help us empathize with the real people caught up in this kind of terror. Some scenes were unwatchable and quite emotional. Now the second anniversary of this wave of protests is approaching. Not only did one person die in the protests. Records show the number is closer to 500, and the ripples of anxiety and stress in families can only be approximated, but this film is an honest way of doing so. See the full program from the 62nd New York Film Festival this fall.
