Cinema ifilm highlights Iranian movie ‘The Glass Agency’

Cinema ifilm has highlighted Iranian movie ‘The Glass Agency’ on the occasion of the Sacred Defense Week.

‘The Glass Agency’ (1998) is a popular Iranian film directed by Ebrahim Hatamikia.

The movie is one of his most successful works and one of the most controversial films of post-revolutionary Iranian cinema.

Hatamikia’s story is set in a travel agency where an armed veteran takes hostages some people after failing to raise enough money for his injured comrade to travel abroad for medical treatment.

A brief plot for the film reads, “Two veterans of Iraq-Iran war, Abbas and his wartime commander Kazem are the main protagonists of the film. Abbas comes to Tehran to seek medical treatment for a war injury. Kazem wants to help Abbas as the doctor recommends that he should go abroad for surgery. However, it is almost New Year's Eve, and arranging a flight becomes difficult. The problems they encounter make Kazem lose his temper, and he ends up taking a whole travel agency hostage.”

The film reveals some of the major fault lines in Iranian society and delivers the complex message of sympathy for the veterans and criticism of those who exploit their status for political purposes.

Parviz Parastouee, Reza Kianian, Habib Rezaee, Asghar Naqizadeh, Bita Badran, Qasem Zareh, Behrouz Shoeibi, Majid Moshiri, Ezzatollah Mehravaran, and Mohammad Hatami have played in the film.

‘The Glass Agency’ swept several awards at the 1998 edition of the Fajr International Film Festival, including the Crystal Simorgh awards for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, Best Music, Best Screenwriter, and Best Film Editor.

MG/AG