Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Movie Review: ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’ – Religion as the Cycle of Oppression


Director: Mohammad Rasoulof
Writers: Mohammad Rasoulof
Stars: Soheila Golestani, Missagh Zareh, Setareh Maleki

Synopsis: Investigating judge Iman grapples with paranoia amid political unrest in Tehran. When his gun vanishes, he suspects his wife and daughters, imposing draconian measures that strain family ties as societal rules crumble.


The Seed of the Sacred Fig begins with a man reading verses from the Quran, the central religious text of Islam. When I read the initial Cannes reactions on Twitter, some international critics mentioned that people laughed whenever scenes with people reciting the Quran were on screen. I rolled my eyes—typical, I thought—but I had to see what Mohammad Rasoulof brought to the table with his rebellious gem.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig” Is a Shattering Epic of Reproach | The New  Yorker

From the first minute, Rasoulof shows that it is not a happy world. The atmosphere is gloomy and oppressive, scenes are almost completely drenched in darkness and opaque color tones. All the women have head covers and some of them, especially the young girls, have been forced to wear them. In a seemingly innocent family celebration in a restaurant, because the father got promoted to an investigator to a judge of the Revolutionary Court, the mother recites a list of forbidden things and precautions to her two daughters, one right after the other is taken away from them as reality hits them; this promotion comes with a price, and it seems that the women have to pay it.

The film takes place during the Mahsa Amini protests, a tumultuous time in Iran’s already troubled history. The environment is not good for anyone, but especially so for women. What the movie lacks is a three-dimensional depiction of the three main female protagonists, Najmeh (Soheila Golestani), Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Maleki). The mother-daughters trio is what makes this feature more compelling but also what could’ve taken it to another dimension of greatness, had their polarizing personalities been explored further. As strict and tradition-bound as Najmeh is, Rezvan and Sana are rebellious and religion-antagonistic. But the lack of depth that other films about religious, non-Muslim characters (the latest example that comes to mind is Heretic) pride themselves on is what makes this film another Western festival crowd-pleaser. Muslims are either fanatics or abandoning the ship en totale. There’s never an actual crisis of faith or someone questioning their religion in a Muslim-centric plot. Even if there is one of those rare gems -the Hulu series Ramy comes to mind as an honest, unflinching depiction of Muslims wrestling with their religious identity and navigating what that means- Rasoulof’s film is not one of them.

Returning to the visual aesthetic of the film, Pooyan Aghababaei’s cinematography is perfect. His light and shadow work is out of this world. And yet, sadly, unlike other cinematographers of films that have received immense coverage in 2024, no one can find an interview with Aghababaei to listen to his methodology or his artistic vision. The cast and crew of the film -except Rasoulof- have not been giving interviews due to legality and fear of punishment. After all, the director has been sentenced to eight years in prison, flogging, among other accusations by the Iranian authorities. So those artists are strictly prohibited from promoting their film or explaining their artistry. The whole situation is sad; a great film but the cast and crew can rarely be traced to revel in their rightful celebration. What makes the movie more impactful are the turbulent consequences of its release.

Seed of the Sacred Fig' review: One Iranian family combusts - Los Angeles  Times

As a film critic, it’s difficult sometimes to bring my views and beliefs to the table. The Seed of the Sacred Fig paints a disturbing image of a totalitarian religious society. I struggle to discover why some Muslim critics found the movie catering to the Western world when it paints a realistic -if a bit glum- image of what happens when religion has the upper hand in controlling a nation, which as of now, looking at the world at large is no longer a reality too far away. But I also understand their frustration with the lack of complexity that Islam receives in contrast to other more popular religions. Whenever you have a great film about someone struggling with doubt or having a crisis of faith, a Muslim character doesn’t seem to have the intellectual capacity to undergo that sophisticated character arc. 

On the other hand, Rasoulof doesn’t necessarily raise the alarm for what would happen if religion rules the world with an iron grip, but stretches a genuine story from his society making it as vivid as possible, to draw eerie comparisons to other parts of the world. I found this movie important and scary, not as flirting with the Western award heads as I thought it would be. The fetishized version of Islamist societies will always be controversial, due to the lack of proper Muslim representation in global works of art, but the dark side of totalitarian, religious governments is something we can’t ignore at the same time. 

Grade: A-

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