Sheytan vojood nadarad

The rhythm and rate of movie is a little bit slow but, episodes are well timed. The movie is about responsibility of our actions, said the writer and director m.rasoulof. There are 4 episodes in the total runtime of 150 minutes,each one's quite independent of other episodes. In summary the movie is well-made, with a lot of eye catching scenes and touching twists. Combinated by outstanding performance of actors.

Just think of this work as the director is completely banned from any form of action and refused to coaprate with a system he did not believe in. So the recordings was quietly done in Iran before the film maker goes to jail for his civil disobedience and protest.

Prison guards are prisoners themselves, yet they are responsible for their action, in a system that is brutal and oppressive.

Can people abrogate their ethical, humane responsibilities on the ground that they are just following the orders?

Oppressive system break people in more than one way, by denying their rights and forcing, "encouraging" them to conform and oppress others which in turn shatters their humanity!

So who is the evil? The system ( which is made of individuals) or those individuals themselves, with varying degrees of responsibility.

There is always a price we pay for "choices" we make, just as there are reward(s) for those choices. Conformity and making unethical choices, can provide some type of " security", but may not provide peace of mind or ease the pain and the consequences of those choices.

This is well made movie that explores the role of people in a repressive environment, the choices they make and the consequences of those choices in romantic love, alienation, separation, pain and guilt feeling. State enforced capital punishment ( provides the context for the story flow. With lovely cinematography, and a deliberate slow motion in some sequences for viewers contemplation. The acting is good, with emotions well reflected in many close ups. The director should be congratulated for being brave, as making such a film in Iran is not just about budgeting and casting and other tasks of film making, but also risking one's live and making a choice about consequences of such film making.

This is one of the best movies of this year. After denouncing the corruption system in Iran, Rasoulof targets the death penalty. He doesn't seem very bothered by the censorship or the jail sentence against him. The film is beautifully shot, and the stories are cleverly told, depicting four different ways to be a victim to death penalty as an executor.

This is among the top five movies that I have ever watched. The movie atmosphere is just mesmerizing and every scene just grips the audience. I truly hope that the story and its moral dilemma will be remembered for decades or centuries to come, and as humanity, we share more understanding and cooperation among us.

The four act movie is sincere, fascinating and a true work of art.

It was philosopher Hannah Arendt who wrote about the 'banality of evil': those who commit the cruelest acts can be the most ordinary human beings. This is impressively shown in the first chapter of 'There is no evil'. A perfectly ordinary man drives home, parks his car, helps his neighbour, showers, watches television, picks up his wife and daughter, goes shopping, etcetera. When he drives off to work the next day, he hesitates when the traffic light turns green. In the final moments of the episode, the viewer understand why. The shocking last scene turns everything that came before upside down. This is film making at its best.

The other three episodes deal, in different ways, with the same issue: capital punishment. Director Rasoulof is not interested in legal dilemmas surrounding the death penalty, he only shows the consequences it can have. He focuses not on the question if capital punishment can be justified, but on the moral difficulties of those who keep the system running, or who are forced to do that.

The four episodes are quite different. The second one feels like a thriller, the third one like a romance and the fourth like a mystery story. Sometimes the death penalty issue is presented at the start of the episode, sometimes it is only revealed at the end. The four episodes have in common that they are expertly and beautifully filmed. Rasoulof's style is understated and I think most western film makers wouldn't be able to show this much restraint, when dealing with a subject such as this.

The fact that Rasoulof has been convicted for making this film, adds an extra dimension to it. But apart from the political importance, in its own right this is a showpiece of cinematographic craftsmanship. Once again an example of superb Iranian film making.