La semilla del fruto sagrado

There are still places on this Earth where women risk death for committing the irremissible crime of bareheadedness; of not wearing enough fabric to God's supposed liking. Such was the case of Mahsa Amini, the Iranian woman who died in the hospital (from "unrelated causes", as the sorts of people we see in this film would try to tell us -- and themselves) after being arrested for not wearing her hijab in public, escalating the ongoing Girls of Enghelab protests to the point of major unrest that lasted from September of 2022 and all the way into the spring of 2023.

In The Seed of the Sacred Fig, directed by Mohammad Rasoulof (the Iranian filmmaker who has often found himself at odds with his government and currently resides in exile in Germany), the events are seen from the perspective of the family of an investigating judge in Tehran. Throughout the film, real TikTok and Instagram videos of the bedlam are interwoven with the narrative. The unrest is reflected in this family; the daughters question the authorities and traditions that their parents protect for little reason other than tradition itself -- and yes, a point of violence is reached.

This is a tense, atmospheric, moving film. I don't wish to reveal too much about it, but I will say this: if this film becomes as big and impactful as it ought to be, its recurring phrase "I won't sit" may get co-opted by many equal rights/freedom movements to come.

Many Oscar opinion-havers this season have quipped, "I don't care who wins; I just need Emilia Pérez to lose". This concerns all categories that it's (somehow) nominated within, including Best International Feature Film. I guess I don't care who wins either. But it should be The Seed of the Sacred Fig.

Many of us know about the recent protests in Iran and the tragic death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. The hijab is mandatory in Iran and is enforced by over zealous religious police. Outside of Iran it is hard to understand that something that seems trivial to us is such a big issue.

This film works because it takes us inside a family unit that is impacted by these very issues. It appears to use actual protest footage ( suitably obscured) mixed in along with the fictional actors. This gives it a more urgent edge.

The husband works as an investigator for the regime. One step away from being a judge. He is under severe pressure at work to process huge numbers of religious "crimes" without any due process. He is finding out that the price of his promotion is blind obedience.

He has two daughters. One at high school and the other at university (college.) One of the daughters has a friend who is shot after being in a crowd near a protest. We are told she was an innocent bystander.

The mum of the family is very concerned to protect the family status and reputation which will see them get a bigger apartment to live in. However this won't happen unless all aspects of life are squeaky clean. They can't even tell the daughters what the Dad does because it is a security risk.

In one of the first shots of the movie we see bullets being handed over to the Dad along with a pistol. He is being promoted but needs to be able to protect himself.

What we are seeing is an actual literal Chekhov's Gun in the story. A concept you can look up :)

The pistol disappears from the apartment and the dad must find it or face a possible jail sentence for its loss. This ramps up the tension a few levels and the film then somewhat devolves from then on.

The main impact from the film is to personalise the various political pressures on each member of the family. The best art takes us beyond the headlines to show us what is happening and how that looks and feels in real life.

The story is a fiction but feels like a documentary in many respects. As a film it is a success in helping us to empathise with real people caught up in this kind of terror.

I saw this film at a festival. There were some scenes that were unwatchable and quite emotional.

It is now coming up to the 2 year anniversary of that wave of protests. It wasn't just one person who has died in the protests. Records indicate the number is approaching 500 and the ripple waves of anxiety and stress in families can only be approximated but this film goes a fair way to doing just that.

To better understand the concept behind the film, this might help, learn where the name of the film comes from: There are plants known as "strangler figs" that exhibit strange behavior. Strangler figs (genus *Ficus*) begin their life as seeds deposited on the branches of a host tree, typically by birds or other animals. The seeds germinate and send down roots that eventually reach the ground. As the roots grow and thicken, they encircle the host tree, creating a lattice-like structure.

Over time, the strangler fig's roots and branches grow larger and more robust, competing with the host tree for sunlight and nutrients. Eventually, the fig's growth can become so extensive that it constricts the host tree's trunk, restricting its ability to transport water and nutrients. This process can lead to the host tree's death, effectively allowing the strangler fig to take over the space and resources previously used by the host.

The strangler fig does not immediately kill the host tree but rather slowly overcomes it through a combination of physical encasement and competition for resources. This fascinating but destructive relationship highlights a unique strategy in the plant kingdom for survival and growth.

Tonight, I watched the film "The Fig Tree of Temples" and I have to say, it was one of the most beautiful and impactful cinematic experiences I've ever had. What made this film resonate with me so deeply wasn't just its strong and artistic storytelling, but the fact that every scene felt so realistic and connected to my personal experiences. It was as if every moment of the film reminded me of the tough and tense period we all went through.

The film beautifully and profoundly touches on the Mahsa Amini revolution and the social and political crises of that time, a period in which I personally participated and witnessed days filled with hardship and uncertainty. The story of the two girls in this context felt like a symbol for millions of Iranians who lived through those moments. I saw myself in those two characters, and this deep empathy gave me an opportunity to understand the emotions and struggles of that era.

The film was emotionally overwhelming, and each scene reminded me of how we all lived through those days, filled with both pain and hope. For me, this film is not just a remarkable piece of art, but also a reminder of a painful and crucial chapter in modern Iranian history.

If you're looking for a film that, in its beauty, also brings to light the harsh and painful truths of our society, "The Fig Tree of Temples" is an exceptional choice.

SotSF is pretty great until near the end when the tension started to dissipate (or maybe it is because if you show a gun for that long, the anti-climax of it *not* going off should be earned and I am not convinced this did). Maybe it was seeing so many putting this in the top, top pantheon of the year's films; not only it's Oscar nomination, but the nature of how it was basically smuggled out of the country to be Screened at Cannes (itself a bold and inspiring story to get to where it found distribution for much of the world) brings an expectation, not to mention the run time. The fact that it is really really profound and strong in the ways that matter counts though, especially as a film about family dysfunction and how the roles they've been put into are disastrous.

I loved how the mother was not that sympathetic to the daughters early on, and yet there were more than a few wrinkles in what the filmmaker shows us of the distance between husnand and wife - all those nights where he comes home and she at first stays up but then falls asleep as he is out longer and longer (and to look back after the film is done at those scenes and to understand *why* he was out so long having "meetings" at work adds to the chilling nature of his response) - and that if it wasn't for this missing gun something else was going to break in this family some way. And this is a time period that is not some far off context but a society that is actively in religious oppression and armed to the teeth.

Some of the film is shot fairly standard, coverage being largely shot reverse shot and so forth for dialog, but what's impressive to me is when Rasoulof breaks from this, like when the girl's friend is at the house with the battered face and the mother takes time to pick out the pieces of weaponry from her wounds. That is the most upsetting part of the whole film if I take stock of it all, in how carefully she takes in picking out those pieces, and it's also from here that the mother Najmeh may not say it outright (and she still has a lot of motherly consternation for her daughters after this, especially in the "it'll upset your father" realm, Golestani is in like 6 dimensions with her performance), but she is changed and has to see things differently now. Or will she, is a key question.

It does lean more into a Genre/Thriller kind of story in the last half hour - almost like something out of the Shining if one were to say more like a Horror film (only our dad/husband just has his own maniacal paternal paranoia and self hatred to blame) - and that isn't quite as absorbing as just seeing this family at home. But we do need that moment where the two people following the family on the road confront the dad, for us to see just what extent they are at now in the story, and that it almost has to unravel from there with what the gun is really all about. And all of this with the immediate and harrowing backdrop of the protests and demonstrations of the period, it makes for an extremely satisfying film.