The director of “A Separation” makes his return to the screens with “A Hero,” a masterful film that was honored with a Grand Jury Prize at the last Cannes Film Festival. This fiction confirms the talent of a filmmaker who observes the realities of his country with a subtle and ambiguous eye.
The filmmaker revisits Iran with “A Hero,” a film where ambiguity reigns supreme, and whose title should not be taken literally.
In this film, the director portrays Rahim, an ordinary man languishing in prison for having incurred debts. This “hero,” who is far from heroic, plans to use a temporary release to repay part of the amount demanded and thus escape his grim fate. A bag filled with gold coins, conveniently “found” by his partner, will allow him, he thinks, to achieve his goals. But Rahim, with his mysterious smile, ultimately chooses to declare to the police that he found the said bag by chance, thereby demonstrating his impeccable honesty.
A seemingly winning bet: now regarded as a model inmate by his prison, which intends to publicize his case, supported by an influential charity, and having become a near-star on social media, Rahim (portrayed by an exceptional actor: Amir Jadidi) seems destined for a favorable outcome. Seems so, at least…
Lies, manipulation, compromises with integrity, interchangeable reputations on social media…
Around these universal themes set in the context of today’s Iran, Asghar Farhadi crafts an incisive moral fable, as inspired in its diabolically precise screenplay as in its consistently inventive directing.
Unlike his compatriots Mohammad Rasoulof and Jafar Panahi, Asghar Farhadi does not directly attack the current regime and is not a victim of censorship. However, this does not prevent him, particularly in “A Hero,” from depicting some painful realities of his country, notably concerning the “relativity” of justice.
This refusal of dogmatism is not an enemy to a critical perspective. Behind its guise of a moral fiction, “A Hero” delivers a harsh portrait of contemporary Iran. An Iran where, as elsewhere, the digital empire and social media wreak havoc.
