One of the year’s best films forced its creator to flee his home country the day before its premiere-Brooke Ivey Johnson-Entertainment – Metro

The Seed of the Sacred Fig is one of the best films of the year and undoubtedly had the highest stakes for the team who made it. 

Out November 27 in the US, the film won director Mohammad Rasoulof the Special Jury and the FIPRESCI prizes after it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year. It also earned a 12-minute standing ovation.

Just the day before the festival, Rasoulof was forced to flee his homeland of Iran due to being sentenced by the Islamic Republic to eight years in prison and a flogging. He also had all of his property confiscated by the corrupt regime. 

The brilliant 168-minute film is set in modern-day Tehran and follows a family who is forced to reckon with their patriarch’s role in sustaining the brutal rule of the Iranian government.

Iman (Missagh Zareh) is a lawyer promoted to the position of investigating judge in the Revolutionary Court, meaning he is part of signing off on the death sentences the court hands down. He and his family struggle with this reality against the backdrop of the 2022 feminist protests in the country. 

The drama amps up when Iman’s wife, Najmeh (Soheila Golestani), secretly helps a protestor who was shot by the police.

Mohammad Rasoulof was forced to flee Iran because of his filmmaking (Picture: Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)

His teenage daughters (Setareh Malek and Mahsa Rostami) begin to question the patriarchal regime of the country, much to Iman’s dismay, who grows increasingly suspicious of his wife and daughters.

Like most teenagers, the girls see the world partly through the lens of social media, and the film uses this as a clever storytelling device throughout, including clips of the catastrophic protests happening outside the family’s home. 

The film is a magnificent achievement (Picture: NEON/YouTube)

Things only get more dramatic as the film plays out, culminating in a shocking car chase and an extraordinary example of Chekhov’s gun. 

The film is a powerful and moving critique of the Iranian government, the latest in Rasoulof’s radical, political career in filmmaking. 

His latest jail sentence is one of many legal consequences he’s faced over the last 15 years.

Much of the film takes place through the lens of social media (Picture: NEON/YouTube)

This time, The Seed of the Sacred Fig was shot in secret without required government authorization: ‘That’s when I saw no other way but leaving the country,’ Rasoulof said. 

Most filmmakers arrive by private jet or boat to attend Cannes, in contrast, Rasoulof traveled on foot over Iran’s mountains for 28-days in order to eventually make his way to Cannes by way of Germany. 

The auteur wanted to continue living in his homeland and affecting change through his work, but that ‘meant living under constant fear, pressure and with a great deal of tension,’ he told NPR. 

Iman’s two teenage daughters begin to sympathize with the protesters throughout the film (Picture: NEON/YouTube)

The new film is probably his most daring yet, so ‘it became apparent to me that the the only role I could play while in prison was the role of the victim of censorship… And I don’t like playing the role of the victim,’ he said. 

Rasoulof made it out of the country thanks to the assistance of people he met while in prison. The younger actresses also managed to leave the country. Still, Zareh and Golestani  – along with other members of the cast and crew – were not so lucky and had their passports confiscated.

When Rasoulof walked the red carpet in Cannes he pulled pictures of Zareh and Golestani out of his pocket, displaying them for the flashing cameras. 

The Seed of the Sacred Fig is a triumph in political filmmaking (Picture: NEON/YouTube)

‘The regime is paranoid about other filmmakers making underground films in a similar vein, and so they probably want to use our cast and crew and make examples out of them in order to dissuade anyone who wants to do a similar project in the future inside Iran,’ Rasoulof continued to the outlet. 

He also reflected on the bravery of all of the women who were involved in the film, who are even more likely to face harsh retaliation from the brutal misogynistic government. 

‘Their courage and resilience was the most inspiring and the most enabling aspect of the entire project,’ he said.

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