The great director (who presents “A hero”, awarded at Cannes, where the protagonist is in prison for a debt he has not been able to pay, does not want to be considered either pro-government or champion of dissidents
“I swear on my son’s life that I have nothing planned,” says actor Amir Jadidi as Rahim. He is the protagonist of A Hero, another masterpiece of the endless well of Iranian cinema. And it is the film with which Asghar Farhadi, after winning the special grand prix of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, is on track for the Oscar nominations (Farhadi has already won two), together with It was the hand of God of Paolo Sorrentino («A hero» will be in theaters from January 5th for Lucky Red). Rahim is in prison for a debt he failed to pay. Taking advantage of a two-day leave, he tries to convince his creditor to withdraw the complaint, paying at least part of the debt. But things get complicated… Farhadi says that he has often read stories like this in the newspapers. Ordinary people who become “suddenly famous for having made an altruistic gesture”.
More than giving “political” answers, Farhadi delves into human behavior. And he does not want to be pulled by the jacket, neither by the regime nor by dissidents, and on how many now would like to boast in supporting the Oscar nomination. In short, those who accuse him of being pro-government, those who support the exact opposite. “If this creates a problem, if you want me to think that my name is withdrawn.” On Instagram, responding to fundamentalists who reproached him for having vague positions on the political situation in Iran, he wrote: “How can I be deceptively associated with a government in which extremist media have never stopped destroying me, marginalizing me, stigmatizing me?”. He says he is a director, and this, in a country where freedom is to be imagined, and where everything is controlled as you can see in his stories, must be enough.
In the film Rahim, unemployed, returns a bag found by chance with gold coins to its rightful owner. Soon the viewer finds himself enveloped in a maelstrom of threats, slander, half-truths. And in the blender, in this idle spin, reputation, honor and dishonor end up … The protagonist has printed a kind smile, which for his accuser is instead a look “like a beaten dog, I don’t trust him, he has already stolen a time”. The director, to that smile, wanted to give a connotation of a gray area «which is part of our daily life», and helps to enhance its ambiguous contours: «The realistic approach of the film requires such complexity». But the man he owes money to is also very ambiguous. Suspicions of fraud advance, the portrait of a community stands out which on the one hand fills the first stranger met on the street with holy words (“may God bless you”), on the other looks at anyone with suspicion. Ready to report, to call the police …
An important role in the film is played by social media, through the videos of what happened. “As everywhere in the world, they have a crucial weight in the life of the people in Iran. It is a recent phenomenon, but its impact is such that it is difficult to remember what life was like before they appeared. Not all actions are justifiable. It is not a question of legitimizing, but of understanding. Understanding does not mean legitimizing ».
December 6, 2021 (change December 6, 2021 | 21:36)
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