A movie born in prison in Tehran at the night of the Oscars
"The Seed of the Sacred Fig" by Mohammad Rasoulof is one of five movies running for Best International Feature Film. It tells the story of repression against freedoms and a clash between generations through the life of a family during the protests that followed the death of Mahsa Amini. It was shot in the Iranian capital eluding censorship by a director now forced to live in exile.
Milan (AsiaNews) – When the "Woman, Life, Freedom" revolt broke out in September 2022, following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof was in prison for signing a petition. From behind bars, he followed the rising protests and developed the idea of a film on what was happening.
Thus, was born “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”, the feature film that won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and is one of five movies selected by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences that could be picked tomorrow in Los Angeles as best foreign films.
For Iranian cinema, this could be a third prize after Asghar Farhādi's "A Separation" (2012) and "The Salesman" (2017).
“It all started when an important official in Evin prison confessed to me that he wanted to hang himself in front of the prison’s entrance,” said the director. “He suffered from a deep pang of conscience, but did not have the courage to free himself from the hatred he had for his work.”
This story probably inspired the character of Iman, the protagonist of "The Seed of the Sacred Fig". A magistrate, he hails from a remote village, and aspires to have a career and offer his wife Najmeh and daughters Rezvan and Sana a better life.
At the start of the film, we see this very normal and ordinary family, living in a Tehran flat, celebrating his promotion to investigating judge and dreaming of a nicer house. Najmeh, like her husband, was born after the 1979 Revolution.
She is perfectly cast in her role as the diligent wife of a regime official and the sister of a soldier. Without being as fanatical as a guardian of the revolution, she instructs her daughters to respect rules and appearances. Especially now, after their father's promotion, the girls must be impeccable in public and not arouse any negative gossip.
In his new role, Iman immediately comes up against a dilemma: The prosecutor asks him to endorse the death sentence of a young man for offending God, without even reading the long file concerning him. When his predecessor refused, he was fired.
This is the crossroads that will shape Iman’s every subsequent choice: Aligning himself with the regime and the will of its leaders, at whatever the cost, becomes his imperative. Since his role will bring him enemies, he is also given a gun to defend himself.
Meanwhile, unrest breaks out in Tehran following Mahsa Amini’s arrest and death. The mobile phones of Rezvan, Sana and their friend Sadaf return chilling images and videos of police attacks against protesters.
At university, Rezvan escapes police bullets by a stroke of luck, but her friend Sadaf is wounded. She brings her home and now Najmeh faces a dilemma: If she helps the girl, she puts her husband's career at risk. If she does not, she ostracises her daughters. Najmeh chooses dissimulation, with her husband she is silent but when Sadaf is arrested she tries in her own way to help her.
But the stability of the family is destined to shatter in the face of a catastrophic event: Judge Iman's gun disappears from his home. He risks three years in prison and the collapse of all his professional dreams. The search for the weapon little by little turns into the search for the culprit. Iman accuses his wife and daughters.
At this point, a policeman and psychologist friend appears. He questions the three women giving them a taste of what happens in prisons, avoiding only physical torture. Failing to get anything out of them, Iman starts to lose control more and more, becoming paranoid. He drags the three women to the isolated house of his deserted village, where he turns into a real tormentor.
He removes the mask of the loving father and husband and begins to behave as he probably does at work. His wife and daughters are confronted by a violent and angry stranger, devoted to the logic of his hellish work. Meanwhile, the director reveals who stole the gun, a very important clue that will lead to the tragic epilogue of the story.
After more than three hours of film, which flow without ever boring the viewer, Rasoulof leaves the audience with many questions. How can a quiet family man turn into a monster? Is it possible to mediate between the reasons of one's conscience and the orders of a totalitarian state, which, moreover, claims to act in the name of God? Is it the lust for power over other human beings that pushes the executioner into a spiral of hatred and violence, from which he can no longer get out?
“In Iran, after the 1979 revolution, there are strange accounts of fanaticism and insistence on ideology that perverts infanticide, fratricide, seeking martyrdom, etc. into quasi-religious values. Over the past forty years, unquestioning submission to the ruling religious and political institutions has created deep divisions within families.”
With this fictional story, Rasolouf tells us how trust and love are destroyed within a family, underscoring the generational clash taking place in Iran. It might seem incredible, but "The Seed of the Sacred Fig", nominated for an Oscar by Germany, was shot in Tehran, evading censorship, with great courage on the part of actors and crew.
After the Court of Appeal confirmed his eight-year prison sentence, flogging, a fine and confiscation of his assets, Mohammad Rasoulof, whose passport was confiscated in 2017, managed to flee to Europe last year. He has made eight films, all of which were censored and never screened in Iran.
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