The President

Set in a non existent country we meet El Presidente, or 'your Majesty' as he likes to be called. He is a nasty, self obsessed man who has surrounded himself with the trappings of any self respecting tyrant. His children are spoilt, he out corrupts the most corrupt and most of his fawning subjects hate his twisted guts.

Then the people just crack over his latest outrage and a revolution kicks off; as he has been detached from reality for so long he is unaware quite how bad things are and elects to stay to sort out the kerfuffle. His grandson – a mere boy- also wants to stay with him, and grandpops relents. Soon they are on their own and having to survive by their wits.

Now this is a film made in Georgian and the sub titles could have been better, but it has a momentum right from the start that just grips you and makes you want to go for the ride. The performances are excellent, the action sequences realistic and often brutal. The filth and detritus that we see as the plot unfolds can be quite moving too. Add to all of that a very humanist story and you get a well made, conceived and presented original piece of cinema.

The fact that this is a fictional country means, that it is not penned in by the constraints of history and so is free to concentrate on the human side of the story. This also means that we avoid political dogma and just see what extremism can do to people. Well worth a punt even if you are half curious as I strongly feel you will not be disappointed.

A dictator and his naive grandson witness a revolution in the making. Neither seems phased by the reasons for the uprising. The grandson is obsessed with finding his friend Maria and the old man just wants to escape the country alive.

The tone of this movie takes a turn to the darkside about an hour into the film. It doesn't look good for either, but what annoys me about the boy is his naivete. He never seems to understand the gravity of his situation. He is repeatedly told by his grandfather to just cover his ears and eyes, and he obediently complies.

While the dictator is ruler of an unnamed country, I saw a resemblance with the old actor to Tsar Nicholas II as he would have looked had he not been executed when he was just 50 years old.

It seems as if the Georgian setting of his latest film "The President" hasn't bothered Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf. The ease and familiarity with which he has directed his film in a foreign land makes all his loyal viewers believe that he has always lived there. Based on a screenplay for which Makhmalbaf contributed with this wife Merziyeh Meshkini, there is hardly any dull moment in this film about an old dictator who is forced to confront all those who were subjugated by him. The entire film is faster than the fastest roller coaster ride through its principal focus on allowing a dictator to explore all escape routes once his government has been overturned. "The President" is suitable for viewing by people of all ages as both young children as well as their old partners would continue to view a dictatorial government with utmost suspicion. For Mohsen Makhmalbaf, "The President" is a modern fable about power, reconciliation and the hope for breaking a never ending circle of violence while exploring the possibility of stopping the violence after a revolution in search of democracy and freedom.

Silence against cruelty only helps tyranny to become stronger, even worse than the worst dictator is the people who remain silent in his reign of terror. The president (2014) is poetic, poignant and precise.

I don't know who wrote comedy drama at the top of this page. The only excuse I can make for such an error is somebody confusing satire with comedy, because there's a lot of satire here but not a shred of comedy. In fact, we are ended here with a tragedy, that only the director's political ideology stopped before it had reached its natural conclusion. The ending of this film is not the ending that flows from the story but rather the ending Mohsen Makhmalbaf wishes he could write for all the political sagas unfolding around the world.

As is, this ending is a problem, but when we get Makhmalbaf's talent for combining hauntingly beautiful images into an unforgettable story. The amazing actors performing in this film headed by Misha Gomiashvili and Dachi Orvelashvili in the two leads. The cinematography that presents all this tragic beauty on screen, the perfect editing of this movie - think about the fact that the most memorable image from this film is the one we never see on screen (with a pitchfork) - the final scene of the film becomes almost a minor issue. It's another must see masterpiece of Makhmalbaf, if you get the chance don't miss it.