In the end, it’s all about a vanished pistol. And it has been and still is the key part of the drama. Iman (Missagh Zareh), in Rasoulof’s masterfully crafted, powerfully angry and almost entirely hollow movie “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” swears towards the beginning of the film that he has misplaced the gun that Iman had previously owned for a little under 17 minutes.
In the words of Imman, ” You in the West work with weapons of words and concepts, we deal with guns.” The gun symbolizes his advancement to an elite status in a cruel hierarchy that has no regard for civilians; On the streets of Tehran there are dissidents, in addition the gun is also given to him due to protection purposes.
One of the most outlandish excerpts from the film of Rasoulof and Jafar Panahi is that they smuggled their movies out of Iran. This was in the midst of filming their movies without permission, and they ended up getting banned for multiple years, getting flung with punishment such as imprisonment alongside heavy flogging.
Quite the shocker, don’t you think? What’s even more astonishing is how the duo single handedly were able to put out a swing against the Islamic regime alongside other Iranian cinemas, while putting out some astonishing hidden messages within their films. But regardless, “The Seed of the Scared Fig” alongside other films aren’t their final films considering Rasoulof might no longer be in Iran. This was all in the context of freeing the duo from the restraints they were placed under because of their political views going against the Iranian regime.
And even after being met with such adversities, Rasoulof managed to grit through and escaped Iran, and post asylum being granted in Germany he managed to secure a comfortable living alongside his daughter while being able to complete post production for the film.
The feature film made its way to Cannes in a timely manner just in time for its official competition first screening. During the festival, many of the reporters said that “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” was likely to win the Palme d’Or during the awarding gala. The disappointment must have been acute for Rasoulof since the film appears to have set out to secure several prestigious awards to embarrass the government in Tehran. Instead, the film earned a special jury prize while the win for the film directed by Sean Baker, ‘Anora’, bagged the Palme d’Or, much to Rasoulof’s chagrin.
It has an important context, and that is to complete the story and the world towards which it sends the message. Iman is promoted water sometime in September of 2022, when the suffocating situation after the death of a young lady Masha Amini following her arrest because of a wrongly worn hijab finally leads to the “Woman Life Freedom” campaign. But these, however, are felt in Imam’s family rather earlier than in the course of Iman’s work.
The majority of the first half of the movie concentrates on Iman’s family, to be more specific, Iman’s wife Najmeh (Sohelia Golestani) and his two teenage daughters Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Maleki). The general note for this is that these three actresses took part in the film’s home scenes without hijab, moreover, this is the most dangerous decision in regard to their careers. (Iranian regulations after the revolution have required women to wear hijabs in all scenes even in households, when the majority of women would take off the head covering. )
What we get to see when we are first introduced to the family is an ordinary scenario filled with tension and disconnection. The girls don’t pay much attention to dad who is busy with work, and as a result, he does the same. The mom’s place is the mediator but that when Iman gets his promotion is a delicate and important one for her. He conveys his nervousness and worry at work to her and she lets the girls know that it’s no longer just what they wear and say in public but who they hang out with, and even more so, what they post on social media.
The death of Mahsa Amini sends out shock waves all across the globe. A man claiming to represent Iman who regards himself as Fox News of Iran says that the girl clearly suffered a stroke. However, both Rezvan and Sana completely refute this claim. One night, during supper while an official news channel is being viewed, Rezvan yells out Lies, all lies only for Iman to hurl insults at her. No more supper time news. However this hardly surpresses the anger which keeps on building up and is visible on the streets of Tehram.
Rasoulof captures this slow transition throughout the movie using real footage from cell phone videos of the intended events, which in essence are more powerful than set up sequences. We witness an epiosde in which women take off their hijabs and young men are being chased down the streets by riot police and later on there are blood drenched bodies lying on the sidewalks.
Rasoulof gets great performances from all his cast, perhaps the most commendable being Sohelia Golestani who fills in the character of Najmeh as well, a woman who switches from being the defender of her husband to the defender of her daughters perfectly, in her performance. One of the most gut-wrenching moments of the film is when a classmate of Rezvan came to their apartment injured in the aftermath of the riots, a young girl named Sadaf. During the movie, Najmeh has to painstakingly extract buckshot from her cheek along with the blood, which is disturbing enough in and off itself. Najmeh is seen washing the buckshot in the sink afterward.
Missagh Zareh sometimes overdoes it but manages to present a credible performance as Iman, someone who’s stripped away from their family by the chaos reigning the streets of Iran, not only the chaos but the world which they are in as well. Sana wants to get blue hair? Najmeh tries to explain, basically, it’s what the kids these days do. But his first and only words are: “Never! It’s against God,” and he believes that.
As soon as the pistol disappears, Iman’s family gets torn apart as two separate events take place, one is the frantic hunt for the pistol and the second is where Iman’s job is at stake. Moving towards the very end- the timeline of the movie takes a more interesting turn as it morphs into a full-fledged thriller -the family sets out on a journey to Iman’s native while the gun story remains open into the questions of mysteries.
There Is no doubt the concluding scene was very gripping Rasoulof manages to makes it even more breathless while serving up the final act that replaces the face of film with a broader perspective. It becomes fearful in encapsulating the thought of a world without the dominance of men. Sadly, in my opinion, and based on Iran’s current political climate, this perspective lacks nuance. Two of the most trusted directors I spoke to back in April of 2018 were convinced that by December of that year I’d Absolutely stand MBas and bald eagles would take over the country. I by no means think that anything will change so my hope is dwindling. I believe this deep rooted and super protective form of government is not so easily shaken. Probably films are not the best medium to express such thoughts, even if we concur with them.
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