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 (042425)
Like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the annual Oscars event has been going
through some major changes and growing pains lately. In addition to becoming
more gender and race inclusive, the awards organization seems to have become
more receptive to non-American films. International cinema has been doing
unexpectedly well in the recent Oscar races. This could be either a good or bad
thing. While it is good that some non-American films will get more exposure, the
Oscar machine often gets behind the films that are most popular with Americans
rather than the films that are the most artistically significant or best
represent their cultures (see:
Emelia Perez).
The Korean film,
Parasite, won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2020 which was a
huge surprise although it was one of that year’s strongest and most powerful
films. This year, two films,
Emelia Perez
representing France and I’m Still Here
from Brazil were both nominated for both Best
International Film as well Best Picture which has never happened before. All of
this would have been unthinkable only a decade ago although occasionally a
foreign film would sneak into the Best Film category such as La Grand Illusion
(1938) and Cries and Whispers (1972), The Postman (1994), Life is Beautiful
(1997), and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000).
But the best foreign film I have seen in a long time, The Seeds of the Sacred
Fig, has not gotten nearly enough praise or publicity, and it is unlikely to
take home any Oscars. Also, it probably won’t be seen by many people in the US
because of its difficult subject, length and language.
But this Persian language film is a towering achievement that nearly matches
some of the best films of the great Iranian masters, Abbas (A Taste of Cherry/The Wind will Carry Us) Kiarostami and Asghar (The Salesman/A
Separation) Farhadi. Like Farhadi’s a Separation, this film examines a close
knit and loving Middle Eastern family and the slow agonizing process of its
gradual disintegration.
The film has gotten some international attention and significant awards. It won
the Jury Prize at the last Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for Best
International Film at both The Golden Globes and the Oscars. Plus, it won Best
International Film by the Board of Review.
This socially conscious drama is a bold critique on the misogyny and religious
fanaticism of the theocratic government in the director’s home country of Iran.
Although the film is strictly speaking a fictional story, the movie was inspired
by a real incident in which, Mahsa Amini, a young woman was badly beaten by a
police officer for not wearing her hijab properly, As a result, she ended up
losing her eye and eventually she died in police custody.
The Seeds of the Sacred Fig was written and directed by Mohammed Rasoulof, who previously
directed There is No Evil (2020), which should be confused with the recent
Japanese film, Evil Does Not Exist (2024). The controversial and critically
acclaimed There is No Evil told four stories of the death penalty in Iran. It
was the first film to get its director in serious trouble with the Iranian
government, and the movie was completely banned in Iran. Rasoulof was later
subjected to a travel ban and for a time was prevented from leaving Iran.
He shot The Seeds of the Sacred Fig in secret after being warned of his
subversive activities, and he took a significant risk by including real footage
of the police brutalizing and bloodying protesters in the 2022-2023 protests in
his fictional narrative. It is hard for oppressive regimes to keep their
activities secret in an era where everyone has a smart phone.
Then ahead of the premier of The Seeds of the Sacred Fig, the director was
sentenced by Iranian authorities to eight years of jail and a whipping. They
also confiscated and took possession of his all his property; He resettled to
Germany here he edited the film and is suing to get his property back.
Understandably he is unlikely to ever go back to his birth country and the film
was picked to represent Germany for Best International Film at the Oscars. All
this has made the director as big of a hero to free speech activists as the
English artist/vandal Banksy and the transgressive feminist Russian band, Pussy
Riot.
The Seeds of the Sacred Fig shows how the heated political situation in Iran
helps to tear a formerly stable family and marriage apart.
The title refers to a species of predatory fig which raps itself around a tree
and eventually strangles it. This is a great symbol for a totalitarian state
like Iran which strangles and destroys the freedom loving part of its
population.
Like the protagonist
in Breaking Bad, the main character starts out as a good and moral dad, but he
is gradually corrupted by an immoral system until he is the very definition of
evil.
Iman (Missagh Zareh) is a lawyer who has always dreamed of being a judge. He
gets a job as an Investigating state prosecutor at the Islamic Revolutionary
Court, and he is responsible for approving or rejecting the sentences of the
accused felons. Initially he wants to only bust the bad guys and protect the
innocent.
But his superior controls him by promising he will only move up the political
food chain only if he sign off on or rubber stamps all the death warrants and
guilty verdicts for all the cases, without even knowing if the people deserve
their punishments. He is also told he must choose his friends wisely, and he
must keep his job-related actions secret from his family and friends. He must
support all the actions of the oppressive regime which often punishes innocents
or risk losing his job, his social standing or even his own freedom.
His wife Najmeh, played by Soheila Golestani who is an anti-hijab activist in
real life, is initially on his side. She is supportive and ecstatic that he is
moving up job wise. And when she sees he is morally conflicted when he possibly
sends innocents to his deaths, she helps him to justify his actions by saying,
“the country’s laws are God’s laws.”
But his position causes serious problems with his two teenage daughters (Setareh
Meleki and Mahsa Rostami). His daughters know some of the protesters personally,
and they see that sometimes even innocent bystanders are being killed or
crippled.
The government also issues Iman, a gun so he can protect himself in case
anti-government dissidents target him. But the gun mysteriously disappears which
makes him look bad to his superior and it endangers his prospects of
advancement. Although he cannot prove it, he suspects that one of his daughters
who have come to sympathize with the protestors stole and hid his gun.
Eventually even his naive wife begins to have doubts that he is on the right
side. All this leads up to an incredibly tense and violent family confrontation
which is as shocking and exciting as anything I have seen all year; it even
matches the powerful climax of
The Brutalist.
I originally saw this film on a big screen, which is how it should be seen, if
at all possible, but by the time this review is posted it will probably be long out
of cinemas Never the less the film should be seen in any format. The film is already on
Apple TV and its release on video on Hulu at the end of May will
allow it to reach a well-deserved wider audience.
This is an important film which deserves to be seen, pondered and written about.
Compared to it, most recent films, including some of the Oscar winners like
Wicked
and
Emelia Perez
seem trivial,
shallow, and insignificant.
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