AFI FEST 2024: THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG IS POWERFULLY POIGNANT

For women, what is the price paid for freedom of speech, freedom of body and freedom of mind.

Shot entirely in secret, Mohammad Rasoulof’s award-winning thriller, The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, centers on a family thrust into the public eye when Iman (Misagh Zareh) is appointed as an investigating judge in Tehran. As political unrest erupts in the streets, Iman realizes that his job is even more dangerous than expected, making him increasingly paranoid and distrustful, even of his own wife Najmeh (Soheila Golestani) and daughters Sana (Setareh Maleki) and Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami).

With one of the mosts powerful openings for a film that I have ever seen concluding with mosque prayer and imaginary of Iman washing his guilt down the drain, this film is viscerally jarring making it one to watch for the 2024 award season.

Repression of government officials, women and the women’s movement are not issues  Iran desires to receive global attention, but attention is exactly what it will receive.  The manner in which women are denied from within their own family, while the matriarch’s struggle to hold them together as a unit are riveting – as are the performances.

Zareh, as the tortured Dad, hoping to make a better life for his family while embracing the inner struggle of morality versus need is a situation most men regardless of ethnicity are faced with more often than not.

Golestani, Rostami and Maleki are spectacular creating the energy of mystery within this feature. Two scenes where they absolutely excel are when Njameh reluctantly takes motherly care of Sana’s friend carefully removing pellets from her face after a protest and the dinner table scene where Sana attacks her Dad for being a hypocrite are riveting.

Rasoulof’s imagery allows the imagination to go absolutely wild with a  blindfolded “therapy” session, hunts in desert catacombs tied with real time images of young woman twirling and burning hijabs in the streets are reminiscent of a historical time in America dating back to the Suffragettes and as current as the abortion ban.  Not ot mention the corrupt nature of how the government misaligns their power to harm citizens for no reason than greed.

Following the announcement of the selection of this film at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, cast and crew were interrogated by Iranian authorities, banned from leaving the country, and pressured to convince Rasoulof to withdraw the film from the festival line-up. Shortly after, Rasoulof and some crew members managed to escape Iran to Europe, some of them after long and strenuous journeys in order to avoid prosecution by Iranian authorities.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig  is necessary cinema if for nothing else to once and for all yell at humanity to embrace one another with respect for ideals and beliefs regardless of the status and gender that may be wrapped in. This film serves as a reminder that those of us who enjoy  freedoms should never forget how we obtained that right and never take it for granted.