16/28

Narrative

Investigative judge Iman struggles with paranoia during political unrest in Tehran

When his gun goes missing, he suspects his wife and daughters, imposing draconian measures that strain family ties as society’s rules crumble. Director Mohamed Rasoulof was originally scheduled to participate in the 2023 Cannes Film Festival as a member of the Un Certain Regard jury. . However, he was arrested in July 2022 after criticizing the government’s crackdown on protesters in the southwestern Iranian city of Abadan in connection with a deadly building collapse. On May 8, 2024, Rasoulof’s lawyer announced that he had been sentenced to eight years in prison, as well as flogging, a fine, and the confiscation of his property. On May 12, 2024, Rasoulof announced that he had managed to flee Iran and was staying in an undisclosed location in Europe. On May 24, 2024, Rasuloff attended the film’s premiere in Cannes and held up photos of the film’s two actors, Soheil Golestani and Misa Zareh, on the red carpet.

This gives it a more urgent edge

Many of us are aware of the recent protests in Iran and the tragic death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. In Iran, the hijab is mandatory and enforced by an overzealous religious police force. Outside of Iran, it’s hard to understand that something that seems minor to us is such a big deal. It seems to use actual protest footage (appropriately obscured) mixed in with fictional actors. The man works as a regime investigator. One step away from being a judge. He’s under heavy pressure at work to handle a huge 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 the other in college. One of the daughters has a boyfriend who was shot after being in a 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 allow them to get a bigger apartment. However, this will not happen unless all aspects of their lives are clean. They cannot even tell their daughters what the father is doing because it is a security risk.

What we see is a true literal Chekhov’s gun

In one of the first shots of the film, we see the father being handed bullets along with a gun. He is promoted, but he has to be able to protect himself. A concept that can be looked up 🙂 The gun goes missing from the apartment, and the father has to find it or face prison for losing it. This raises the tension on a few levels, and then the film takes a turn for the worse. The main effect of the film is the personalization of 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. As a film, it succeeds in helping us empathize with real people caught up in this kind of terror, I saw this film at a festival.

Not just one person died in the protests

There were some scenes that were unwatchable and quite emotional. Now we are approaching the 2-year anniversary of this wave of protests. The records show that the number is approaching 500, and the waves of anxiety and stress in families can only be roughly estimated, but this film is an honest way to do it.