‘Mahoora’, an untold narration of the war

Iranian movie ‘Mahoora’ has been one of the many films produced on the theme of Iraq’s imposed war on Iran.

The film, directed by Hamid Zargarnejad, is an untold narration of the war, from an unseen location in Iran-Iraq war, with a tribe of Arab-Iranian residents.

‘Mahoora’ is a mixed story of love, hatred, fear and hope in the heart of war.

The basic background of the film comes from a very old tradition among the Arab people of Hoor in south-west of Iran, who chose the most beautiful girl to swim in Hoor Lake every week to fertilize it.

The film begins with a tragic scene of ‘Bride of Hoor’ to be killed by an unknown shooter, just before his lover came out of water, where he went to fetch her, a bird.

So far in the movie, the war is not pictured in various scenes so the audience waits for a weird love story and awaits an appealing, yet complicated narration.

The script of ‘Mahoora’ took four years of research and efforts on a real historical event, which had the crew to search for pristine locations in southern parts of Iran.

The production process of the film was very hard and the crew built a small town around the city in four months, parts of which were located on water.

The main role of the film, Amin (Otter), starred by Saed Soheili, was supposed to be performed by Mohsen Tanabandeh, but due to an injury, the young actor was replaced.

The storyline is a beautiful combination of love and war and the filmmaker has released his movie from the chain of common examples of such films with a proper and appropriate innovation.

The very key point of ‘Mahoora’ is that the beloved is already gone at the beginning of the story and the lover is living with her memory.

Amin, decides to commit suicide in Hoor, but faces the half-dead body of an army pilot. He saves the pilot's life and despite having his brother’s wedding, he takes the pilot home to be taken care of. However, with the Iraqi soldiers everywhere, this could be a high risk to the family and tribe.

The scenic and costume design of the film alongside devotion to the Arab traditions, lifestyle and atmosphere, have made the film one of the bests of Iran, after ‘The Bride of Fire’ by Khosrow Sinaee.

Yet, the script has received negative comments by critics as they believe that there are ambiguities in the screenplay that confuses the audience.

During the film, there are names that are only said in dialogues, but the audience can’t figure out who they are, or what their connection is with the main characters.

The reason for some reactions or behaviors of the characters also remains unknown.

The film has a long distance with Iranian war masterpieces such as ‘Duel’, ‘Leili is with Me’, ‘The Night Bus’, ‘Goodbye Commander’, ‘The Third Day’ and ‘The Lost Strait’, but is still considered as one of the prestigious movies in the cinema of the sacred defense.

‘Mahoora’ features popular Iranian actors such as Saed Soheili, Kamran Tafti, Bahareh Kian-Afshar, Dariush Arjmand, Saeed Aqakhani, Mitra Hajjar, Ali Osivand and Yousef Moradian.

Notable among the movie's cast is veteran Iranian actor Dariush Arjmand who took on a different look in the flick.

FM/FM