By Matthew Moorcroft

Highest Recommendation

• Directed by Mohammad Rasoulof
• Starring Sohelia Golestani, Missagh Zareh, Mahsa Rostami, Setareh Maleki
• PG-13

Mohammad Rasoulof has more guts then anybody else alive right now.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig is worth watching regardless of it’s quality simply cause of the things that director Rasoulof had to go through in order to get it made. Rasoulof has been arrested by Iranian authorities several times prior to this, but The Seed of the Sacred Fig comes at a turning point for the activist director as the film had to be made in secret over the course of 70 days. The authorities were constantly watching him, the actors couldn’t say anything, and by the time the film was done Rasoulof had to leave his country to escape a possible prison sentence. As such, the fact the film exists at all is something pretty special and worth viewing in of itself.

Of course, I’m also here to say very loudly that The Seed of the Sacred Fig is hauntingly great; a long, slow descent into authoritarian horror and paranoia that feels distinctly relevant in an age where it seems fascism continues to creep up and take over. Going through political drama to paranoid thriller to straight a home invasion flick in one go, this is both a activist statement and genre-bender mind melter in the best possible way.

Iman is a lawyer who just got a promotion, and is excited for the possibilities it raises for his family. After all, he has spent his time priding himself on being a fair and honest lawyer, or at least he sees himself that way. But his promotion is solely due to the need for somebody to pass out death sentences to those who might otherwise not deserve them, particularly the protests that are currently happening in the streets. And back at home, unknown to him, are two daughters who believe wholeheartedly in the protests’ importance as they try to navigate with a friend who, seemingly, is a part of it. And his wife, Najmeh, is desperately trying to hold onto normalcy, even if it’s clear that she is uncomfortable with what exactly needs to happen in order for Iman to succeed at his job. It’s a spider web of a multiple of perspectives that builds and builds, and it’s that domestic drama that makes up the bulk of The Seed of the Sacred Fig‘s first two thirds.

But it’s that domestic drama that reveals itself quickly to be a smaller, more condensed version of the patriarchal and theologically twisted systems that run their home country, and their lives begin crashing down over a simple misplaced gun – something given to Iman for protection against “foreign enemies” or whatever that means – you start to see the paranoia that has been brewing for 90 minutes finally come crashing down. Rasoulof executes all of this brilliantly and with the skill of a master filmmaker in full command of his craft, and while the lengthy runtime of the flick seems daunting it never once veers into wasteful hours or time. It always feels necessary, it always feels needed.

This is particularly true of it’s later sections when it finally the hits the third act, which is a series of expertly placed Chevkov’s guns – both literally and figuratively – that explode into a flurry of tension, suspense, and pure adrenaline fueled horror that feels distinctly close to home. A man has become a dictator in his own home; his children and wife are now captives to a man that is so scared of everything else around him that he lashes out at the first thing he sees.

It’s important, to me at least, that The Seed of the Sacred Fig doesn’t necessarily overdramatize either. It speaks plainly, neutrally, and is rather blunt with the imagery it does manages to convey. Close ups of real violence on the street, a bloodied black eye, and long depictions of interrogations are more then enough to get a message across, and Rasoulof knows this. The final images of the film are the closest it comes to “movie” territory as it enters into a literal chase sequence involving a maze of ruins, but they are powerful images and the final shot is one that will likely stick with you for long after the viewing of the final film.

There is a lot to unpack and say about The Seed of the Sacred Fig, both in terms of the film’s actual content and also what it’s real world implications will be for both it’s director and cast. It’s far more then I can reasonably say here, and much of it is probably best left to those with actual working knowledge of more thorny international politics. As for me, I can only analyze what I see, and The Seed of the Sacred Fig is far and away one of the year’s best and most essential films. It realizes the very real life that much of it’s home countries citizens have to deal with on a daily basis, and it’s as much of a brave, ballsy film as it is wickedly impressive on a technical and logistical level. Just spectacular stuff across the board and a must watch for anybody even remotely interested.