Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof defied an international travel ban, filmmaking ban and threat of imprisonment imposed by the Iranian government to bring us his new moving feature, There is No Evil. The film won the Golden Bear at the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival where Rasoulof’s daughter Baran, who plays Darya in the film, accepted the award on his behalf.
There is No Evil consists of four standalone episodes, titled There is No Evil, She Said: “You Can Do It,” The Birthday, and The Kiss. While the stories exist independently from each other (except, perhaps, for the possibly connected second and last episodes), each one tackles the death penalty in Iran and the deep impact it has on those forced to carry out the executions. Iran conscripts soldiers through mandatory military service for all male citizens, and we learn throughout the film that completion of this service is required in order to obtain many necessary items, such as a passport or driver’s license.
Of the four episodes, the eponymous opening story is the most languid. Family man Heshmat (Ehsan Mirhosseini) takes us through the humdrum of daily life, picking up his wife and daughter, collecting his salary, grocery shopping, and caring for his aging mother. While the focus on daily mundanity is presented in order to sharply contrast the abruptly shocking ending, the episode’s slow pace (particularly in relation to the long run time) makes us acutely aware of time passing, pulling some of our focus before the climactic ending. However, the episode still packs a punch, and the last few minutes in particular strongly set up the rest of the film.
The first episode’s provocative finish sends a bolt of tense energy through the viewer in time for the second episode, a more action-packed story that follows Pouya (Kaveh Ahangar), a conscripted soldier struggling to come to terms with an order to execute a prisoner. His fellow military bunkmates alternately bolster and criticize him, providing one of the more philosophical conversations in the film about duty, conscience and responsibility. Ultimately, Pouya makes a choice that keeps us on the edge of our seats throughout the episode.
In The Birthday, a soldier named Javad (Mohammad Valizadegan) appears to be on the run, but it soon becomes clear he’s simply on three days’ leave—just in time to return for his girlfriend Nana (Mahtab Servati)’s birthday. Making his way on foot through the woods, Javad sheds his military clothes, cleanses himself in a pond and stashes his military gear by a tree. He washes himself in the water as though cleansing himself of the stains on his conscience left by his military service. With a ring in his pocket and Nana’s parents’ tentative blessing, Javad is ready to propose when a devastating loss in Nana’s family changes everything. Javad spirals and leans on Nana for help, but their relationship is threatened when Javad gives voice to a dangerous secret.
Rasoulof’s daughter, Baran takes a lead role in the final episode as Darya, a young Iranian expat who travels to Iran to visit her uncle Bahram (Mohammad Seddighimehr) and aunt Zaman (Jila Shahi) under mysterious circumstances. Stunning shots of the rural, desert-like landscape reveal the characters’ isolation from society, heightening the suspense as we wait alongside Darya for her aunt and uncle to reveal the big family secret. In the meantime, Bahram takes Darya hunting and presses her on her proclamation that she refuses to kill another living thing. The episode tackles intergenerational consequences of one man’s actions during his military service years earlier.
The four episodes nicely ebb and flow in tone and production design to provide added depth and variation to their shared narrative topic. Over the four episodes, we move farther away from traffic-ridden city life, beginning in a busy city centre and ending in a sprawling, desert-like landscape with no cellular service. The carefully chosen spaces complement and heighten both the characters’ and viewer’s feelings. For example, the confined, restricted spaces in episode two reflect Pouya’s heightened feelings of fear and being trapped. Meanwhile, the lush surroundings in episode three instil a false sense of safety and calm.
With a run time of two and a half hours, There is No Evil feels lengthy at times despite its division into four stories; nevertheless, the film is a daring, critical commentary that proves Rasoulof will not bend to the oppressive tactics or censorship imposed by his government.
Score: B
© 2021. UniversalCinema Mag.