THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG at AFI Fest 2024
By William J. Hammon, ActuallyPaid.com
One of the best films of the festival, one of the best of the year full stop, is Germany’s Oscar entry, The Seed of the Sacred Fig. Taking its title from a metaphor about how Iran’s government oppresses its people — and ultimately becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, as director Mohammad Rasoulof had to flee his home country and smuggle the footage out lest he be imprisoned for speaking out against the regime — this is a political thriller on par with the likes of Argo and The Manchurian Candidate.
Missagh Zareh plays Iman, a loyal and devout prosecutor who works for the government to uphold law and order, and after more than 20 years of service, he’s been promoted to the role of investigating judge in the Revolutionary Court. This pleases him to no end, but there’s more than meets the eye. As he’s informed by a colleague, he was only given the job so that he could be set up to fail. The lead prosecutor wanted another candidate, so Iman is in a position where he can’t make any mistakes. In the wake of protests after the killing of Mahsa Amini in 2022 (the film brilliantly incorporates video recorded for social media as a contrast to the official line), Iman is ordered to sign hundreds of death warrants in order to make examples of those who would question the government’s — and by extension God’s — authority.
Meanwhile, at home, Iman’s family feels the brunt of the consequences for his tenuous advancement. Daughters Rezvan and Sana (Mahsa Rostami and Setareh Maleki) are kept under heavy watch in case protestors choose to target the household, their friend Sadaf (Niousha Akhshi) is arrested and tortured for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Iman’s wife Najmeh (Soheila Golestani) is torn between her loyalty to her husband and faith, and her desire to protect her daughters and let them lead their own lives.
Things come to a head, however, when Iman’s government-issued gun goes missing, and we’re led down a Hitchcockian rabbit hole as Iman begins to spiral out of control trying to either find it, replace it, or get his family to confess to stealing it. The whole affair culminates in a climactic sequence that would make Stanley Kubrick beam with pride. This is an amazing tale of female agency in a repressive environment, and in an age where art imitates life, it’s a crucial reminder of what people choose to fight for versus what they should.
Originally published at http://behindtherabbitproductions.wordpress.com on November 25, 2024.
