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In his novel
If On A Winter’s Night A Traveler, Italian writer Italo Calvino observed, “The ultimate meaning to which all stories refer has two faces: the continuity of life, the inevitability of death.” That statement is insightful enough and broad enough to apply figuratively to any form of art. But Mohammad Rasoulof’s
There Is No Evil, which won the Golden Bear (or top prize) at Berlin last year, puts a literal spin on it. A collection of four thematically connected stories about Iran’s death penalty and the demoralizing impact of state-sanctioned killing, this elegantly written and humanely acted movie extends empathy in multiple directions, including towards those struggling with the burden of “just following orders.” The film’s as compassionate as it is unsettling, and as provocative as it is poignant.
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Sentenced to death, a young woman seeks atonement on live television in writer-director Massoud Bakhshi’s “Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness.” The riveting and superbly acted Iranian drama, based on a real variety show, poses a moral crucible born out of a theocratic system that disfavors women amid the heightened tension of the on-camera spectacle.
On Yalda Night, a Persian winter solstice celebration, Maryam (Sadaf Asgari) leaves prison to attend the late evening program “Joy of Forgiveness” to ask the adult daughter of the man she accidentally killed her own much older husband to spare her life. With frenetic energy, cinematographer Julian Atanassov’s camera tracks the behind-the-scenes chaos as producer Mr. Ayat (Babak Karimi, known for Asghar Farhadi’s “The Salesman”) wrangles musical acts and famous guests before the surreal main event: preventing a hanging.