Iran,
1971, 95 min
Shown in 2001
CREDITS
- dir
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Massoud Kimiaie
- prod
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Mohammad Taqi Shokrai
- scr
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Massoud Kimiaie
- cam
-
Ne’mat Haghighi
- editor
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Esfandiar Monfaredzadeh
- cast
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Behrouz Vossoughi, Bahman Mofid, Mery Apik, Jalal
- source
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EMAIL: bvactor@pacbell.net
-
COMMENTS
Screened as part of The Unvanquished series with Behrouz Vossoughi in person.
OTHER
Dash Akol, an aging community leader fabled for his bravery and benevolence, falls hopelessly in love with a beautiful young girl entrusted to his care. Meanwhile, his nemesis challenges him to a final showdown. Massoud Kimiaie’s free adaptation of the celebrated Sadegh Hedayat novel did not please Hedayat’s fans, who accused Kimiaie of taking too many liberties with such a sanctified literary opus. Kimiaie changed the focus of the story from Dash Akol’s concern for his social status in the community to the alienating effects of a forbidden love on this solitary man. The film proved to be one of Kimiaie’s most cinematically polished works. He finds expressive visual equivalents for Hedayat’s concise and effective prose and enlarges the sad tale of a suppressed love in a bygone era into a fatalistic account of individuals caught in the tangled web of their destinies. Vossoughi’s sensitive portrayal of a lovestruck man struggling to maintain a sense of dignified strength is an unexpected treat. Under the heavy makeup that renders him almost unrecognizable, he is equally adept at handling the kinetic swordfighting scenes and the quiet moments of pensive introspection.
—Jamsheed Akrami
FACTOID #180
According to the Chronicle’s Herb Caen, producer David O. Selznick’s ’last letter and last phone call were to [SFIFF administrator] Shirley Temple Black to whom he said, ’I can’t wait to see you at the Festival.’’ Selznick was the namesake for a series of awards at the San Francisco International.
