Mohammad Rasoulof on the summit in Cannes | EUROtoday
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Un gun and bullets, framed in close-up and in cinemascope. These are the symbols of justice as it’s practiced in his nation and as filmed by Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, within the highly effective opening shot of Seeds of the wild fig tree. A movie for which he received the particular jury prize at Cannes.
A political firefight lasting greater than 2 hours and half-hour, however which passes like a gunshot, because the story manages to convey the strain and anguish felt continuous by its heroines, stubbornly decided to not give in towards their oppression. In the crosshairs of the mullahs' regime for a number of years for his free and subversive cinema, Rasoulof, 52, drives the purpose house with this new characteristic movie denouncing the repression of the Woman, Life, Freedom motion, born from the anger provoked by loss of life of the younger Mahsa Amini, in September 2022.
An artist in exile
He is an artist now in exile, sentenced final May 8 to eight years in jail in Iran for “collusion against national security” (after having already been incarcerated in 2022 and 2023) and exfiltrated in secret on May 12, that the 77th Cannes Film Festival honored in competitors, with this dazzling Wild fig tree seeds.
READ ALSO Judith Godrèche, Zaho de Sagazan, Coppola… These moments that marked the 2024 Cannes Film FestivalIt is tough for the opposite movies on this 2024 choice to compete with the emotional carry of a stunning work which rushes headlong towards the violent obscurantism of the theocratic regime in Tehran and its tragic repressive report. But Mohammad Rasoulof's household drama blended with thriller just isn’t solely carried by the breath of his concepts: additionally it is carried by that of his course.
A heroic director
The handgun that opens the movie is the one that’s given, in accordance with process, to Iman, a zealous official of the regime newly promoted to evaluate within the service of the “revolution”. Shortly after, youth demonstrations broke out in Tehran following the loss of life of Mahsa Amini and Iman noticed lots of of every day arrests go via his particular courtroom, a few of which resulted in loss of life sentences.
Rezvan and Sana, Iman's two pupil daughters, intently observe the occasions and attempt to defend a buddy who was severely injured by the police in the course of the scuffles. As for Najmeh, the devoted and pious spouse of the brand new Justice of the Peace, she initially takes up her husband's trigger… till the involvement of her kids triggers the start of the disintegration of the household unit.
READ ALSO Cannes Film Festival: eclectic favorites from “Point” Alternating its rectangular format, its elegant sequence pictures, its tight pictures filling the display and hitting our retinas (we aren’t about to overlook this younger girl's face riddled with lead balls…) with documentary pictures filmed vertically on smartphone, Rasoulof composes a harmonious net between fiction and actuality to present an account, in actual life, of the nightmare skilled by any aspiring to a free life and with out the wrath of God in Iran.
Contagious anger and keenness
Ilan's gun, McGuffin on the heart of the plot, will disappear, reappear, change arms till an astonishing closing recreation of hide-and-seek in a spot from the previous. The object embodies as a lot the blind brutality of Islamic establishments because the sword with which a bourgeois, rich and educated household from Tehran will implode via patriarchal repression.
Some could criticize the Seeds of the wild fig tree, whose title is defined within the opening credit, unfolds a progressively predictable plot, whereas the ultimate shot oscillates between magnificent composition and heavy-handed symbolism. But the primary factor is elsewhere. It pulses within the energy of those two younger girls who refuse to decrease their heads earlier than inquisitive authorities, in that of their mom whose filial love will surpass that of her religion… And additionally in that of a heroic director, decided, by his digicam, to render to those reckless folks a justice that they can not receive in their very own streets.
READ ALSO In Iran, the divorce between youth and the regimeWild Fig Tree Seeds have contagious anger and keenness. He affords nice concepts for cinema (together with a automobile chase that might show a shock to some Hollywood taskmasters!), attaches us to his admirably brave group (your complete movie was shot in hiding) and, on the finish, he effortlessly requires our vibrant applause. An incredible movie, important and treasured ally of Woman, Life, Liberty.
https://www.lepoint.fr/culture/les-graines-du-figuier-sauvage-mohammad-rasoulof-au-sommet-a-cannes-25-05-2024-2561159_3.php