Mohammad Rasoulof – Sheytan vojud nadarad (2020)

adminOctober 12, 2020

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Working in defiance of a lifelong ban on filmmaking, dissident director Mohammad Rasoulof delivers a piercing drama about a subject he knows well: the costs of living under a repressive, brutal government. Winner of the Golden Bear, the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival, There Is No Evil is a film of four chapters; each tells a different story related to the death penalty in contemporary Iran.

The first story concerns a family man who, as we come to see, pays a grave moral price for his comfortable middle-class life. The second and third chapters portray conscripted soldiers; in Iran, it is they who are often forced to perform executions, and both segments explore the tension and turmoil that can come with such harsh coercion. The final section involves a family secret, and it brings the film to a powerful conclusion. Suspenseful, mysterious and shot through with a sense of urgency, Rasoulof’s work bears the mark of an artist who sets his own terms – and who knows just how to captivate an audience.