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Drama movie
Director:
Mohammad Rasoulof
Actors:
Ehsan Mirhosseini, Keveh Ahangar, Mahtab Servati
Premiere data:
30. april
Age limit:
12 years
«Regime-critical short story film from Iranian director-dissident.»
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How much had you sacrificed for a clear conscience? Your family? Your freedom? Your life?
This is one of the questions the main characters in last year’s Gullbjørn winner “There is no devil” ask themselves. The film is a hard-hitting, but at the same time low-key and harrowing critique of authoritarian Iran in general, and the regime’s use of the death penalty in particular.
It shows how an authoritarian state can get what are basically normal and empathetic people to do cruel things. That in itself makes it worth seeing, but the film is also engaging and impressively well put together.
Death penalty
In the film’s four stories, we meet ordinary Iranians who in one way or another have to relate to how Iran practices the death penalty. The big questions also characterize the small problems. A small family quarrels over money, a desperate soldier misses his girlfriend, another soldier is burdened with guilt, and a father’s deeds far back in time have consequences for the relationship with his daughter.
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Everyone tries to navigate an everyday life characterized by limited possibilities, at the same time as they dwell on what kind of moral responsibility one as an individual has in such a brutal regime. Some try to build a normal life in the midst of all the atrocities, while others resist. Whatever they do, they all become a little complicit in the oppression of their fellow citizens. No one finds perfect solutions, and no one completely escapes the psychological stresses.
The now highly acclaimed director Mohammad Rasoulof is just as comfortable building scenes where normality disappears without warning, as he is with scenes bathed in persistent discomfort. Everything sat in alternately narrow bunkers and beautiful, open Iranian landscapes, full of surprises.
Hard-hitting about Heshmat
One seldom guesses what comes in “There is no devil”. The stories are driven by solid dialogues, lively characters and unexpected twists. Particularly hard-hitting is the first story about the family man Heshmat, which has an ending you will remember for a long time. Even when you start to expect surprises, the stories are so well constructed and interesting that you quickly forget to look for them. In addition, the director is confident enough to play with the audience’s expectations.
“There is no devil” has its weaknesses. It is at times unfocused and a little too wandering to justify two and a half hours. Especially the second story about a young soldier falls into a somewhat banal finale that feels both out of place and unrealistic, much due to the toned down and more successful way the film otherwise keeps the suspense going. At times, there are also many repetitive and inelegant explanations of how Iranian conscription works.
Enough torture porn now
Made in hiding
The four short stories could have taken place in many authoritarian regimes similar to Iran, but the fact that this is precisely the country in which the film takes place makes it all extra strong. For director Rasoulof, Iran’s dictatorship is not something abstract that he views from a geographical or historical distance. He has sacrificed a lot to make the film.
He has already been sentenced to prison for his previous films and is currently under house arrest in Iran, without the opportunity to leave the country. He is not allowed to make more films either. That “There is no devil” was therefore made in secret, makes it no less impressive.
Rasoulof has made something as rare as a so-called “important” film that is also good. I can almost guarantee right now that it is the best Iranian film about the death penalty you will see this year.
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