It was philosopher Hannah Arendt who wrote about the 'banality of evil': those who commit the cruelest acts can be the most ordinary human beings. This is impressively shown in the first chapter of 'There is no evil'. A perfectly ordinary man drives home, parks his car, helps his neighbour, showers, watches television, picks up his wife and daughter, goes shopping, etcetera. When he drives off to work the next day, he hesitates when the traffic light turns green. In the final moments of the episode, the viewer understand why. The shocking last scene turns everything that came before upside down. This is film making at its best.
The other three episodes deal, in different ways, with the same issue: capital punishment. Director Rasoulof is not interested in legal dilemmas surrounding the death penalty, he only shows the consequences it can have. He focuses not on the question if capital punishment can be justified, but on the moral difficulties of those who keep the system running, or who are forced to do that.
The four episodes are quite different. The second one feels like a thriller, the third one like a romance and the fourth like a mystery story. Sometimes the death penalty issue is presented at the start of the episode, sometimes it is only revealed at the end. The four episodes have in common that they are expertly and beautifully filmed. Rasoulof's style is understated and I think most western film makers wouldn't be able to show this much restraint, when dealing with a subject such as this.
The fact that Rasoulof has been convicted for making this film, adds an extra dimension to it. But apart from the political importance, in its own right this is a showpiece of cinematographic craftsmanship. Once again an example of superb Iranian film making.
