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A Hero

Iranian writer/director, Asghar Farhadi returns to familiar ground for A Hero, a film reminiscent of his 2011 masterpiece, A Separation. Like that film, this deals with family, social 'contracts', stifling bureaucracy and loss of innocence. It follows the plight of Rahim Soltani, played with fantastically dim-eyed naivety by Amir Jadidi, and his attempts to gain release from prison by paying off a creditor.

The backstory goes that Rahim needed a guarantor to set up a new business, so his ex-wife's brother stumped up, only to see the money disappear with Rahim's dodgy business partner. Loan-sharks need repaying, so the brother-in-law, Bahram (Mohsen Tanabandeh) has to cash in his daughter's dowry, depriving her of marriage. All this is winkled out during the actual plot, which is pretty labyrinthine as it stands. Needless to say, events turn more complex when Rahim's new fiancé, Farkondeh (Sahar Goldust) finds a bag carrying a number of gold coins, giving them a moral decision to make.

Rahim floats through the story, central yet adrift, as a slightly gormless cipher, who can't see the reality of society going on around him. His sister and her husband, the prison hierarchy, a local charity organisation, even a helpful taxi driver - all get involved in one way or another, but all seem to have a greater grasp of how things are. Rahim talks about honour and truth but is clearly flawed. When asked if he's really smart or simple, he sadly replies "I wouldn't be in prison if I was smart". It's almost unbearably frustrating watching the small errors of judgement spiral out, and rather than resolve issues, become continually thrown spanners.

Much of the film is seen through the eyes of an innocent, Rahim's young son, Siavash (Saleh Karimaei) who speaks with a stutter. He plays a similar role to that of the daughter in A Separation - who is incidentally, the director's daughter, Sarina Farhadi, AND is also in A Hero, as Bahram's daughter, Nazanin. Intricate. This film is a gripping morality tale that couldn't be more prosaic, albeit in a culture that's probably alien to most of us outside Iran. Farhadi is a master of making minor details seem earth shattering, and ultimately, bringing everything back to a sense of fatalism.

[As a side issue, at the time of writing, Farhadi is being sued for plagiarism by an ex-student of his who made a short documentary called All Winners, All Losers that covers that same ground. Latest reports suggest he has been found guilty but that the judgement is not final, due to the case being in the public domain.]

A Hero opens at The Luna on June 9th, with an advance screening on Sun May 29th in the Movies with Mark session.

See also:

Definitely A Separation (2011), which is incredible, and maybe it was the dusty setting that reminded me of Nadine Labaki's great film, Capernaum (2018).

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