Execution has long been a subject favoured by Iranian filmmakers, from The Night of the Execution (1970) by Davoud Mollapour to Mohammad Rasoulof’s Beriln Film Festival Golden Bear winner, There Is No Evil (2020). Ballad of a White Cow, which was shown at the 2021 Berlin Film Festival continues this trend.
A subject often coupled with execution in Iranian films is Ghessas or An Eye for an Eye according to the Islamic Sharia law. It means that if a murder is committed, the family of the victim have the right to both demand the killer’s execution or by forgiving save him from the gallows. In the latter case the killer, or his family, have to pay the victim’s family blood money.
What happens if someone is wrongfully executed? In the UK after Timothy Evans was wrongfully tried and executed in 1950 for the crimes committed by the serial killer John Christie, there was an uproar and a bill was presented in the British Parliament in 1965 which became law in 1969 ending the death penalty in the UK. A film, 10 Rillington Place (Richard Fleischer, 1970) was made based on these events.
In the opening sequence of Ballad of a White Cow we see Mina (Maryam Moghadam) visiting her husband Babak, who is about to be executed, in his jail cell. Fast forward a year and Mina is working on the assembly line of a factory and having a tough time both financially – she is behind with her rent payments – and emotionally as she is taking care of her deaf daughter to whom she has not had the strength to tell the truth about her father and instead filled her stories about him being somewhere far studying.
Mina is summoned to the judiciary and is given the shocking news that her husband was actually innocent and the real murderer has confessed. There is a dry apology with the news that she will receive a sizeable compensation from the court. But what price can be put on a life? Life of a husband and a father. Mina is determined to receive an official apology from the courts.
One day a stranger who introduces himself as Reza (Alireza Sani Far) knocks on Mina’s door and tells her that he has come to pay a debt that he had to Babak. Mina’s surprised that Babak had not told her anything about this debt but in her dire financial conditions is happy to receive the money. Mina’s landlady turns out to be very nasty and throws her out for letting in a stranger to her flat. Mina finds that no landlord is willing to have a single woman as a tenant, having a child makes it even worse. Reza turns out to be a really good Samaritan and rents her a far better apartment at a very low price. We clearly know that there is more to Reza’s good deeds than a simple financial debt. It turns out that he was one of the judges who signed the execution verdict. He is emotionally distraught and has quit the judiciary. An official from the judiciary come to Reza’s house to dissuade him from resigning and reasons that Reza and other judges carried out God’s orders and what the Prophets had preached. Therefore he should not be blaming himself. It was a divine call.
Reza’s young son blames his father for taking the life of an innocent man and has become estranged from him. Reza argues that he only carried out the law and had no other choice, otherwise there would be turmoil and chaos in society. To which his son points out to the countries where the death penalty no longer exists and have not experienced any turmoil in their society.
Reza’s true identity is not revealed to Mina who gradually falls in love with him. A tragic event brings the two of them even closer but will this love withstand the truth if it is revealed?
Two superb performances by Maryam Moghadam and Alireza Sani Far elevate Ballad of a White Cow well above the majority of the mainstream Iranian films. These two carry the film on their shoulders and succeed in conveying a wide range of emotions to the audience with admirable skill. The script by Moghadam, Behtash Sanaeeha and Mehrdad Kouroshnia is tightly constructed and very inventive, offering a fresh look at the aftereffects of the death penalty. The direction, both of the actors and framing the shots and constructing the scenes, by Moghadam and Sanaeeha is exemplary.
Unfortunately the film was not given a screening permit in Iran and has also suffered from being pirated. Hopefully this will not deter these filmmakers from pursuing their talent and carry on making more intelligent, thought provoking films like this.