A good movie

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie but, since it was directed by Jafar Panahi, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, it was only the 3^rd movie I saw from this director and I guess I still have some work to do considering his stellar reputation. It was so interesting that Panahi had decided to turn the camera towards him later on during his career and, as a result, this movie was quite complex. I think the best way to describe it would be that it was some kind of autofiction. Indeed, even though Panahi was playing a film director with some issues with the authorities, he wasn’t actually playing himself but some fictionalized version of himself. One of the most intriguing thing was that he never explained why he went to live in this remote village so closed to the border with Turkey which was super impractical since he was trying to remotely direct a movie. Several times he was asked about his choice, by the villagers and also his movie colleagues and, at some point, he literally stood on the actual border. I guess this choice or lack of it was to show his actual position. Indeed, considering all the pressure and how dangerous his position was in Iran, he should probably not stay there but, on the other hand, somehow, he couldn’t leave his country either because it would be like giving up on so many things dear to him. The contrast between these villagers, still living with some rather bizarre superstitions, and the seemingly more sophisticated film crew in Teheran was pretty neat as well. Eventually, I don’t think that Panahi did judge any side, in my opinion, he wanted to show that, no matter our background, we all try to cope somehow with the chaos in our lives, especially in a country like Iran where your options seem to be extremely limited. By the way, it was rather weird to see Turkey being displayed as some kind of symbol for freedom after watching  ‘Gelbe Briefe’ about 10 days ago. To be honest, I wonder if Panahi couldn’t have been more critical about himself somehow. Indeed, on one hand, he would rather put the focus on something or somebody else (he even gave the camera to one of the villagers to film instead of him) but, on the other hand, he kept filming himself and he was always at the centre of all the drama going on in this village but also on the remote film set. Anyway, to conclude, even though it might have been slightly too complex for my limited mental capacities, the end-result was really intriguing, that’s for sure.