Fasle kargadan

This is easily Ghobadi's best film--the metaphors and imagery pull together his other films into what is his masterwork. Very haunting, somewhat surreal-as the former prisoner tries to find his wife the events of his life are accompanied by metaphors from his poems brought to life. Bellucci is incredible. I never expected such a subdued and dignified performance from her. Perhaps one of the best scenes is when the young poet is tied up and tortured and a rain of turtles falls from the sky. Caner Cindoruk is also quite good as the young poet--and his rival and tormentor Yilmaz Erdogan is convincing as the man obsessed with his wife--despite his evil (he is the source for the poet's family's suffering), he manages to be both loathsome and sympathetic at the same time.

IRANIAN CINEMA BRAIN DRAIN CONTINUES

As the repressive political atmosphere in Iran gets worse and worse more and more top cinema talent is finding it impossible to work there and fleeing the Islamic Republic to seek sanctuary and freedom of expression in other countries. Kurdish Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi whose Kurdish language films won two top awards at San Sebastian in 2004 and 2006 (the latter banned in Iran) sealed his own fate with a film called "Nobody Knows About Persian Cats" which was shown at Cannes in 2009 and highly displeased the turbaned clerics back in Tehran. The topic was underground rock musicians in Iran trying to get passports to London so they could work freely. in exile Ghobsdi finally settled in Turkey where greatly depressed he started shopping around for a new film topic.

The film he has finally finished with considerable Turkish assistance is another Kurdish theme and has the poetic title of "Season of the Rhinoceros" (Fasle Kargaran) officially now, "Rhino Season". The world premiere was held at the Toronto film festival in September. His new film didn't take any prizes at Toronto but generated intense press coverage marking one more notch on the Iranian filmmaker Brain Drain trail. "Rhino Season" was shot mostly in Turkey, where Bohman has set up shop, and surprisingly stars the outstanding Italian actress Monica Bellucci (47) partnering exiled Persian film legend of yesteryear, Behruz Voshoughi, 74, in the leading roles.

Bellucci, Italy's biggest female star and glamorous sex symbol, had to learn Persian (Farsi) for the role but is an accomplished multiligual and says that was no problem. The main thing for her was the opportunity to work with a fantastic director like Ghobadi -- in a highly deglamourized role with the emphasis on acting!

Unlike long established Iranian filmmakers Kiarostami (72) and Makhmalbaf (55) Ghobadi at 43 is barely known outside of Iran but two of his films, "Turtles Can Fly" (2004) and "Half Moon" (2006) won the top prize at the prestigious San Sebastian film festival in Spain. Ghobadi is an ethnic Kurd and both of these films were in his original Kurdish language --- already a problem as there is a militant Kurdish separatist movement in Iran. His followup to that was the hastily made underground study of Iranian underground musicians "Nobody Knows About Persian Cats" (Kasi az Gorbehaye Irani Khabar Nadareh) which was awarded a special jury prize at Cannes but was considered seditious by the Religious Police that run Iran, resulting in Ghobadi's defection and self imposed exile.

Highly depressed because he could not go home and bouncing around Europe in Persian exile circles, he finally realized that he simply had to make another film "to stay alive". The result is another Kurdish topic involving the unjust 30 year incarceration of a Kurdish poet and the ten year imprisonment of his wife (Bellucci) in Tehran in the wake of the Islamic takeover. Believing her husband to be dead she has moved to Turkey with the very man who instigated their imprisonment. He was once her driver and long in love with her as well. When the Poet finally gets out twenty years later he goes to Istanbul to track her down ... with mixed results and tragic flashbacks.

The poet is played by Behruz Vosoughi who was the most popular actor in Iran before the Revolution and has himself been absent from the screen for thirty years --an ironic parallel -- because he left Iran just before the Islamic takeover and took up residence in the US, hoping eventually to get into American films, but was only offered terrorist roles which he refused to accept. "This is the role I have been waiting for all these years", said Vosoughi.

"Rhino Season" was produced by well known Turkish actor Yildiz Erdoğan and his alluring actress wife Belçim Bilgin Erdoğan. Yildiz has the third major role as the insidious driver/lover who engineered their imprisonment at the time of the Islamic revolution and Bilgin has an important supporting role. Bellucci's son in the film is played by pop singing international superstar Arash Labaf, who lives in Sweden but sings in Persian. Labaf who has a gigantic following in Eastern Europe and the Middle East had never been in a film before but is an old friend of director Ghobadi's. When Ghobadi offered him the part he said he couldn't turn down a chance to have such a beautiful "mom" as Monica Bellucci!

All cast principles except Yildiz appeared in Toronto for the World Premier and again a week later when Rhino was screened at San Sebastian, the one place in Europe where Ghobadi is no stranger. "Rhino Season" was awarded a best cinematography prize in San Sebastian and then moved on to the BUSAN Film Festival in South Korea on October 6. There Ghobadi met with American director Martin Scorcese who announced plans to collaborate with the exiled Kurdish director on his next project, a film about Kurdish Iranian relations.

In his Toronto press conference Ghobadi stated that he is not a political filmmaker and does not really have any interest in politics per-se but, when you make any film about Iranian society these days it inevitably takes on a political character. "Rhino Season" is in fact a film as poetic as it is political -- full of symbolic visuals relating to the poetry of the central protagonist which is a leit motif throughout. The title itself comes from one of the poems of the imprisoned poet, recited during the film by Bellucci in Farsi. Reflecting the mood of the film a dead Rhinoceros on a dreamlike desert plain dominates the official film poster. Ghorbadi also said that he hopes his work outside of Iran will inspire young people in Iran to demand more freedom. He is convinced that when the youth takes over there will be big changes.

"Fasle Kargadan" strides gracefully into my 7/10 rating, and I must say, I liked it. The acting in this Iranian drama is both moving and authentic, painting a vivid portrait of familial bonds and human resilience. The film editing carefully weaves together parallel narratives, revealing the strength and weaknesses of its characters as they confront life's harsh realities. Its strength lies in its portrayal of the enduring spirit of a family amidst adversity, offering a message of hope in the face of despair. The music underscores the emotional depth of the story, and the cinematography captures the stark beauty of Iran's countryside. "Fasle Kargadan" is a heartfelt exploration of love and sacrifice, a reminder that even in the most trying of circumstances, the human spirit can soar, and my liking for it is as enduring as the film's touching tale.

While no one doubts the magnificent cinematography, there is much more about this brilliant masterpiece comparable to the works of great masters such as Angelopoulos. Although the movie events happen in Iran, they are all about universal themes such as love, jealousy, destruction and the desperate search to discover the meaning of the Being.

The Iranian revolution and its destructive impact upon the society, the pandemic injustice that the revolution promised to end but did not and yet exacerbated, the hostile environment and its impact upon the afflicted families, are all depicted with rigor and with poetic images, rather than with cliché dialog and rhetoric. The movie manages to keep an appropriate pace letting the scenes find their desired depth and yet avoiding boredom, and the performances are brilliant. What more would you expect from a movie anyway than to show you innovative images and to share a new kind of experience with you, which you would have had to pay a great price to experience it first hand? A master piece 10/10.

There are so many fascinating and compelling aspects to this movie which I have now watched twice.

First of all, it has nothing to do with Rhinos or indeed with Martin Scorcese. It says he presents the movie, whatever that means. He is no way involved with the directing of this movie which is directed by a man named Bahman Ghobadi who left his native Iran in 2010 and has never returned.

This is a love-triangle, a husband and wife and a third party (the driver)centred not so much around the poetry of the husband but around the fixations of love of the driver for the wife and its consequences over a 30 year period. Ghobadi has publicly stated that if he were in the shoes of Sahel, he could not tell his wife he was still alive after 30 years if she believed him to be dead.

This is a far more meaningful film than 'Argo' in reference to the 1979 Iranian Revolution and its aftermath but I do not think the film is really about that, it is not a political movie in any way though politics played its part in the storyline.

You will want to watch the film more than once for sure - to ponder who is/was the father of the two young girls, did Sahel really sleep with one of them, how come Sahel could not recognize the man who was Mina's driver, the marvellous short scene when leeches were used to suck blood from Sahel and his associates, the prison sex scenes, the turtles scene, and what pact, if any, was horrifyingly agreed between Sahel and the driver towards the end.

Bear in mind this that whereas 'Argo' was a Hollywood blockbuster produced with a huge budget,'Rhino Season' was not, an independent production on low budget and to such degree that none of the actors involved, including Monica Bellucci, were paid for their work.

The participation in the film of Monica Bellucci and of the man who played Sahel is remarkable in itself. Sahel's Actor, Behrouz Vossoughi, is himself a man in exile for more than 30 years. He barely if ever speaks in this movie but his acting is evocative enough.

I still wonder who Mina was meeting and the boy who rode the motor cycle, the same boy Sahel played a game with in the Cafe.

It is not clear why the film is called 'Rhino Season' but there are clues throughout for the viewer to make up their own mind. Alas, Persian Cats and Turtles in two previous films is indicative of the mindset of a Director who loves animals more than people (so he apparently said anyway.

'Not without my Daughter' was a while back and 'A Separation' was another Iranian movie worthy of praise. This movie is something else. It is no blockbuster but it is beautifully filmed and directed, well acted and produced and in my opinion it is a mastercraft of a movie. It is such a pity that the movie has not been exposed to a wider audience.

I do wonder who the movie is aimed at. Most people outside of Iran have perhaps never heard of the Iranian Poet Sahel Fauzan and know little if anything about the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Even if they have heard of him, they know nothing of his poetry and will not readily relate reference to the title 'Rhino Season'. People in Iran will not be able to watch it inside their own country. Perhaps only Muslims or anyone associated with Islamic culture will truly understand the ultimate message of the film.

Yes, it is a slow, boring movie but that should not belie the fact that everything about this movie is of the highest standard and do not always judge a book by its cover.