A Hero (Movie Drama by Asghar Farhadi)

Abstract

Reviewed by: A Hero Babak Mazloumi (bio) A Hero Movie Drama, Starring Amir Jadidi, Mohsen Tanabandeh, Alireza Jahandideh, and Sahar Goldoust, 2021, 121 Minutes, Directed by Asghar Farhadi Produced by Asghar Farhadi and Alexandre Mallet-Guy Asghar Farhadi’s movie, A Hero (Persian: Qahraman) was first screened at the Cannes film festival in 2021 where it won Grand Prix.1 It debuted in Iran in November 2021. This was concurrent with a significant reduction in the number of people infected with the COVID-19 virus in Iran and other parts of the world which caused a new hope for the revival of cinema. The relatively good statistic, however, did not comport with the high hopes.2 There was also a controversy which further reduced the number of viewers: One of Farhadi’s students pressed charges against him accusing him of plagiarizing; she stated that Farhadi’s movie script copied the story that she wrote for the class that he taught. Farhadi, however, vehemently denied all such charges.3 The movie starts with the protagonist, Rahim Soltani (starring Amir Jadidi), leaving prison. He is on a two-day leave to find a way to pay his debt or persuade his creditor, Bahram (starring Mohsen Tanabandeh), to withdraw his complaint or Rahim will continue to serve time. As he is leaving the prison, one can see the Persian translation of a verse from the Qur’an on the prison wall that reads, “if you have been thankful for your past, God will increase your sustenance, but if you have been ungrateful, God will decrease your sustenance.” This is symbolic and a foreshadowing of what is yet to come within the context of the storyline. [End Page 107] In the next scene, one can see Rahim at an archeological site where workers are not only excavating ancient monuments and artifacts, but also preserving them for future references. It is at this site that Rahim asks his brother-in-law, Hosein (starring Alireza Jahandideh), who works there to help him settle the debt that landed him in jail. He hopes they can go together to the creditor to convince him to withdraw the complaint. Regarding the debt, Rahim claims he has a portion of the funds, without revealing his source. He, then, meets Farkhondeh, a young woman (starring Sahar Goldoust) with whom he turns out to have been romantically involved. The woman appears to be in possession of something precious that might come to Rahim’s aid. It is learned later in the film that this precious possession turns out to be 17 gold coins, the partial funds that Rahim had spoken about to Hosein. They had planned to sell the gold coins as partial payment towards the debt with hopes of creating a payment plan for the balance. When Farkhondeh suggested that the gold coins could portend a miracle, Rahim had a change of heart and decided to find the rightful owner. He leaves his contact details with the shopkeepers in the vicinity of the spot where Farkhondeh had found the gold coins. When the real owner of the coins actually showed up and claimed the coins, Rahim had no way to pay the debt and had to go back to prison. However, when the warden gets ear of the gold coins being returned, he praises Rahim publicly and arranges a televised interview with him. After Rahim understands that he is not able to find the real owner of the gold coins, as a precondition for his employment and as a response to all slanders and rumors, he asks his girlfriend to impersonate the owner of the gold coins. This is not the first time Rahim is asked to bend under external pressure which results in his “individual reality” to be overwhelmed by “collective reality.” For example, at some other point, when the warden and his assistant are briefing Rahim on details pertaining to the upcoming TV interview, including his good deed of returning the coins to its rightful owner, Rahim tries to correct them about one of the details, but they insisted that it was best to keep his statements as they were initially presented. Rahim had to speak according to their...