Walkthrough of Iran’s top-grossers post-revolution

The Islamic Revolution, having been a turning point in the fate of the Iranian nation, coincided with a major shift in arts production, including cinema. ifilm reviews best-sellers at the box office in a series of articles.

1- ‘The Stone's Trip’: 1978

In the first scene, the gipsy enters the story saying prayers while the camera approaches him.

The village clergyman holds the holy book Quran in his hand as the windmill stone is passing by rolling downhill.

In a beautiful scene, the stone passes beneath the Quran.

A group prayer is being held in the desert beside the stone and people are mourning in the holy shrine of the village, all symbolizing spirituality and religion. That is possibly why the film was banned from screening prior to the victory of the Islamic revolution.

If the ex-regime had not been toppled, the film would possibly never have gone on the big screen. Actually, it was first shown publicly while the ex-regime was trying to show democracy and eased pressures just a few months before the triumph of the nation against the despotic ruler.

That could be the reason that the film was the top-grosser of 1978-79 (Iranian calendar starts in March), as the nation rushed to watch it not long before the revolution closed-down all cinemas.

MF/MG