The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Starring: Mahsa Rostami, Setareh Maleki, Missagh Zareh, Soheila Golestani, Niousha Akhshi, Reza Akhlaghirad

Director: Mohammad Rasoulof

After a promotion to Investigating Judge, the honorable and honest Iman (Zareh) must do everything he can to protect his family. This means no posting on social media, no interactions with anyone other than family, and nothing that would expose who their father is. This even includes Iman carrying a gun with him for protection at all times. While his wife Najmeh (Golestani) is in full support, his activist daughters Rezvan (Rostami) and Sana (Maleki) continue to get caught up in the political unrest that is pervading Tehran. Little do they know how involved their father is in the unrest, who goes against his better instincts in signing hundreds of death sentences a day on command without assessing the evidence. After the girls best friend and fellow activist Sadaf (Akhshi) is shot in the face and subsequently disappears after protesting women having to wear hijabs, they start to question their father's job and its affect on their life. After his gun mysteriously disappears, Iman's life becomes a blur of fear and paranoia of his own family reaches a boiling point and he must take matters into his own hands to save his family and his reputation.

Before going into my review of the film, I have to make note of the circumstances going on behind the scenes. Director Mohammad Rasoulof consistently put his life on the line, in the past and while making this film, standing up against the regime in Iran. He filmed this movie in secret, with the actors involved in the film aligning with his thoughts on what was going on in Iran and putting their lives on the line as well. After the film was entered into Cannes, he was pressured by the Iranian government to try to get him to withdraw it as it spread propaganda against the government. He refused and found himself getting slapped with a prison sentence, along with the actors being held in the country for interrogation and not allowed to leave. Rasoulof escaped and fled to Germany who is now giving him sanctuary and has actually submitted his film as Germany's official entry for awards consideration.

So as you can imagine reading the plot and knowing the stakes behind the scenes, this is not only a subversive and scathing indictment of Iran's current political situation but also a heartbreaking and ultimately tragic look at the unraveling of a family living under said government.

Running at almost three hours, Rasoulof ratchets the tension to an almost unbearable level, raising the stakes for the character in each scene. In a wise (and probably circumstantial) move, we never really see the political unrest except through social media that the girls are watching. This all clashes with what is being reported on the news and the girls begin to think for themselves and want to see change in their country. Rasoulof uses uses actual footage that the Iranian government censored to further hammer home the stakes and situation of those living in the country. This works better than actually staging anything for the actors to see.

The way that the actors embody their characters and react to what is happening around them only adds to the film. Iman is a very complicated character, because he clearly is doing a lot of what he does out of fear not only for his family but of his government. He is set up as a man who will always investigate and do the right thing, but because he believes in his government he will blindly follow orders and sign execution orders without question or investigation out of fear of something happening to those he cares about. However, later in the film there is a scene where he and a colleague blindfold and interrogate his family over the whereabouts of the gun. Iman is a man pushed to the brink and his struggle is a tragic one, especially when we see home videos of the happy family they once were. Missagh Zareh's plays in Iman's tragedy beautifully. As his wife, Soheila Golestani has maybe the most complex role in the film. While she is loyal to her husband and believes in the government like he does, she also can't stand by while he does some of the things he does to her family. The fact that an actress who in real life took part in the hijab protests in Iran can play a character like this so convincingly speaks to her talents and weight of the character. As the daughters fighting to find their voices, Mahsa Rostami and Setareh Maleki are the most sympathetic characters in the film and act as the audience's surrogate to the horrors going on around them. Both are strong and never give up their convictions and the actors do a great job portraying their characters vulnerability and strength to fight what is going on around them.

This is a powerful and important film that highlights the atrocities going on around us. While the film runs almost three hours, Rasoulof keeps you on the edge of your seat while also giving you a front-row seat into real life horrors. It is uncomfortable but that also is what makes this film a must-see.

Grade: A