‘Return of popular heroes to Iran cinema’

Iran movie ‘Lottery’ enjoys a characteristic long awaited in screenplays, local critic says.

Film critic, Behnam Sadeqi says the movie turns out to be attractive to the audience, from the very moment they glimpse the title. Given the filmmaker (Mohammad Hossein Mahdavian’s) background, moviegoers have an easier choice to make, he continues.

Here’s a summary of Sadeqi’s criticism.

What makes the flick even more fascinating is the real heroes it depicts. With ‘Standing in the Dust’ and ‘Midday Adventures’ already on Mahdavian’s resume, ‘Lottery’ chronicles human trafficking; a social drama unrivalled in the nation’s cinema history.

The first half of the film introduces the characters, their motivations and the obstacle in the storyline.

Amirali (played by Saed Soheili), and Noushin (played by actress Ziba Karamali) are planning to get married. However, the girl’s family opposes the marriage, due to having gone broke. A co-worker talks Noushin into travelling to Dubai, in order to work in an accounting (later on discovered to be a modeling) firm. The girl’s family supposes the offer will resolve their problem, and hence agrees; but when they hear Noushin has allegedly committed suicide within a few days of arrival in Dubai, they’re shocked.

A war-veteran and current intelligence officer, called Haj Mousa (played by Hamid Farrokh Nejad), accompanies Noushin’s elder brother (played by Mohammad Javad Ezzati) on the trip, which sets up the second half of the movie, where the heroes come to the fore. The two have to confront anti-heroes (Arab Shaikhs), in order to uncover the secret of the girl’s death.  

What makes the movie so attractive is that the heroes are real-life ones, and so believable that you would identify with them.

The flick was screened last month at the 36th Fajr Film Festival in Tehran, and grabbed the ‘Best Visual Effects’ award of the festival.

MF/MF