LA SEMILLA DE LA HIGUERA SAGRADA

After being sentenced to prison for criticising the Iranian government, filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof (There Is No Evil, Berlin Golden Bear) was able to flee his country and win the special jury prize at Cannes for this film about a recently promoted judge who loses his temper when, amid a wave of popular protests in Tehran – backed by his own daughters – his service weapon goes missing. Reflecting the climate of paranoia in Iran today, this gripping cocktail of moral drama and political thriller – somewhere between Chabrol and Farhadi – denounces complicity with state repression, armed (only) with forcefulness. It suggests, through a powerful parable, that the burning streets are an extension of domestic fires: where home is the origin of patriarchal authority and the source of the voices that challenge it.