Can you forgive the person who hurt your loved one?
And if you know that you hold his/her life in your hands, what will you decide? Will you spare his/her life or lead him/her to the death penalty?
For another week, the cinema nights in our city's outdoor theater organized by the local cinema club continue. This time we saw a little gem from Iran, a country with a rich film production and several notable directors.
Yalda, the night of forgiveness.
Yalda is the 21st of December, the winter solstice, which in Iranian tradition is the night when family members gather and eat together until dawn. During that dinner, they eat, among other foods, pomegranates (the color red has a special meaning on this festive day), they read poems by Chavez.
Director's license, on this joyful day, our director conveyed the custom of forgiveness that exists in Iranian society, but which is done during Ramadan.
Few of us I believe, know that the Iranian law gives the right to the relatives of the victim to either agree to the death peanlty of the person that hurt their loved one or to forgive the offender and spare his/her life.
Also, few of us know that the Iranian law gives the right to be married temporarily, with the rule that no children will be born during this time of the marriage.
Plot
A young woman, Maryam, sentenced to death for the murder of her middle-aged husband, is given the opportunity to seek forgiveness from the victim's daughter so that she will not be executed. And all this must happen on the set of a live television show, a reality show, where the public is encouraged to vote by telephone whether they want the death penalty of the Maryam or her acquittal.
In an hour and a half, Masoud Bakhshi, the director of the film, presents us with the political and social situation of Iran.Through the narration of the events that preceded the wedding, of the couple's common path, we see Iranian society without a mask.
And not only that, he constantly contrasts two worlds: the people behind the cameras, on the set, iniside the control room and those who are forced to be in front of the cameras. The first ones are the professionals, the those who are only interested in ratings and numbers, the image and "stealing moments from the lives of others" to arouse the interest of the viewers. The latter, the victim's wife and daughter, facing each other, but also faced with the circumstances that force them to be in front of the cameras to tell the story of their lives, to shatter their dignity and suppress their emotions.
Massoud Bakhshi balances between social drama and teledrama. On one hand he presents to us a woman fighting for her life in a maze of religious laws, and on the other hand the cheap reality shows that overwhelm us. And he wins the bet in my opinion. He has created a film that starts with strong social elements and continues with great suspense and tension hitting the red for us the viewers. We, along with the cast, are agoinizing for Maryam's fate. (I caught myself whispering: "don't do it" in a tense moment).
One of the bonuses of the film, in my opinion, is that the director managed to elicit amazing performances from the two female protagonists, who juggle between what they want and what they should, between life and death.
Finally, the director plays with our own stereotypes: on one hand we watch Maryam and what happens to her, on the other we look through the keyhole of the reality show, thirsty for the chilling details of the story.
If I would advise you to see the film? The answer is yes. But with an open mind, because these are societies with different morals and customs, a different way of life from ours, the western one. So, if we go beyond these stereotypes that we have, we will have the chance to enjoy this little gem from Iran. Personally, I would deeply suggest it for you to watch.
Yalda, a night for forgiveness (2020)
Directed and written by:Massoud Bakhshi
Cast: Sadaf Asgari,Behnaz Jafari,Babak Karimi
Country: Iran
Run time: 90 min
Language: Persian
Thank you reading!
All the photos were taken by me with the help of my mobile phone, except the ones stated otherwise.
