The stakes in The Exam, from writer/director Shawkat Amin Korki and co-writer Mohamedreza Gohari, are established early. If Rojin (played by Vania Salar) doesn’t pass her exams and get into university, she will be forced into an arranged marriage. She’s not a good student, possibly a result of depression, and her sister Shilan (played by Avan Jamal) will do anything it takes to get her to pass the exams. Rojin is still grieving an old love (who either died or abandoned her fleeing Kurdistan) and has previously attempted to kill herself, and her sister Shilan sees going to university as the only chance to save her. Even if they have to cheat to get Rojin to pass the exams. And thankfully for Shilan and Rojin, there is a man called the Engineer (played by Hushyar Nerwayi) who specializes in helping people cheat on the exams.
Now in North America, when we think of people cheating on exams, we think of rich people paying others to get ahead (getting others to take the SATs for them, the recent US college admissions scandal, etc.). This is not the case of the people taking part in this scheme. Shilan and Rojin have to sell all their jewelry to be able to afford it, and the other person who we meet that is cheating on the exams is an older individual, who is ashamed to need to cheat but doesn’t have the time to study while working. That’s not to say people aren’t profiting off this, the Engineer certainly is, but many of the people’s reasons for being involved or for turning a blind eye to cheating seem to stem from there being more systemic problems at play.
I found that most of the complications/obstacles were well-earned. I don’t know how much power Jamal (played by Shwan Attoof), a Javert-like proctor who was determined to root out cheating, would actually be able to wield. However, in a world where university seems to be the only method of escape or seek a better life, this exam is the most important thing to many people so having the power to be able to turn off mobile service in an area for exam time to try and curtail cheating does not seem to be outside the realm of possibilities.
Avan Jamal commanded the screen in what could’ve easily fallen into a melodramatic performance if not for her ability to thread the needle, especially as Shawkat Amin Korki’s filmic style leans towards longer shots.
The film has does have some commentary on women and their ability to make choices in their own lives, about female emancipation. Shilan is unhappily married to Sardar (played by Hussein Hassan Ali) and has, without him knowing, been taking birth control so she won’t have any more children. Shilan and Rojin’s father intends to retire and move away, but to do that he needs to marry off Rojin first despite her having no interest in her intended match. Shilan may be trying to save Rojin, but in a way, she is trying to go back in time and save herself from her own unhappy marriage/life and give her sister the chance at the happiness she was denied.
As a Canadian watching, I couldn’t help but notice the reference to Canadians between Jamal and Munira, the woman running the exams at the school. I have not been to Iraqi Kurdistan, so I don’t know all the perceptions they have on Canadians but going on the subtitles, and assuming the translation was accurate, I think there was an implication that Canadians are inherently pessimistic. I’m not sure of the veracity of this, if that was the intention of the statement, and yet, it feels truer than the usual “Canadians are nice” old standby.
The Exam played Red Sea International Film Festival after having its world premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival where it won the FIPRESCI Critics Award.