The first great film of this year: Mohammad Rasoulof's Iranian marvel, THERE IS NO EVIL

The deservedly top prizewinner at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival, THERE IS NO EVIL is a movie that constantly questions the power of the state vs the morality of the individual in an authoritarian regime. For that reason, this film by Iranian-born Mohammad Rasoulof had to be shot on the sly and smuggled out of Iran. 

Despite this, the movie -- in terms of art, content, philosophy and, yes, even as entertainment -- seems to me to be not much improvable upon, had Mr. Rasoulof been given the time, budget and accommodation of any western "studio blockbuster." (The filmmaker himself, shown at right, has been imprisoned in Iran and banned from making movies for two years.) 

Each of the four tales in this anthology addresses a particular  moral question from a different angle, situation and set of  characters -- although by the finale, you may wonder if one of these stories is simply the continuation of an earlier one, though perhaps in a different time frame. (Or maybe not.) This does not really matter, in any case, because each story is told so honestly and so well.

The entire film lasts two and one-half hours. I admit this sounded a bit daunting when I began my viewing. But so immediate, pertinent and involving is the first episode (and each one thereafter) that any sense of time and/or deadline quickly melted away.

Episode One deals with a man, above and above) coming home from work and showering, an imperilled animal he encounters and saves, his wife and child and the various errands he and they must handle. The sense we get of modern-day Iran seems exceptional in its very ordinariness, and the tale ends with our hero back at work and a sudden coup de cinema that I have never experienced -- until now -- and which sets the scene for, as well as our sites on, all that follows, while forcing us to re-think all that we have so far seen.

Episode Two is set in what looks like prison but I think is actually the military (which in Iran, as elsewhere, seems awfully close to the same thing), as we learn of the dilemma faced by one young man. Included here in one of the best philosophic discussions of guilt, innocence, death, responsibility and the power of the state that I have seen and heard. Plus quite a bit of suspense and surprise. 

We move to the verdant countryside in Episode Three and the birthday of a lovely young woman (above, left), attended by her family and her fiance (above, right), which then turns into a wake. For whom, why, and how this has come to be all bubble up and pour over each other in this tale of, not lies, exactly, but information withheld. The final shot is simply amazing: ironic, deeply moving and quietly  provocative.  

Quiet describes the final section, too, as we see the arrival at the airport of Darya, who has returned to Iran from attending university in the west. Awaiting her are her parents, or so we imagine. But history, along with information again withheld, slowly disseminates, as we and Darya learn of the older couple's beekeeping activity and the man's health issues. The animal world, as well as the human, figure in this episode, and the ending is one of the most subtle yet encompassing and quietly moving that I can recall.

TrustMovies has deliberately left out the actual "theme" of this film -- the engine that drives all of its episodes -- because simply to name it seems almost too obvious and heavy-handed, not to mention offering up somewhat of a spoiler. Rasoulof is such a delicate filmmaker, giving us such a rich array of characters, as well as attitudes toward his main subject, that I urge you to see this film without reading too much about it beforehand. 

The writer/director plays fair by all his characters -- even when they do not always play fair with each other. (He also draws expert performances from every actor.) There are no villains here -- except the State itself. We're all flawed, right? So his chosen title There Is No Evil, if not taken in completely ironic fashion, may bring to mind that famous quote from Terence, "Nothing human is alien to me."

In any case, for me this is the movie of the year so far. I have not stopped thinking about it over the week since I viewed it. Even the occasional maybe-too-easy coincidence Rasoulof allows pales in comparison to the beauty, depth, subtlety and inclusivity on view. The filmmaker has given us here not merely Iran but ourselves and consequently the whole wide world.

From Kino Lorber, in Persian and German with English subtitles, There Is No Evil opens tomorrow, Friday, May 14, at Film Forum in New York City -- both walk-in and virutally -- and can also be seen at virtual cinema across the country. Click here to view all venues nationwide.

A sneaky, don't-miss movie from Italy to begin the New Year: Sydney Sibilia's ROSE ISLAND

TrustMovies can't imagine those folk even vaguely interested in the theme of individual freedom vs the power of the state not immediately grabbing the opportunity to immerse themselves in the very interesting new Italian film, ROSE ISLAND. 

As co-written (with Francesca Maniere) and directed by Sydney Sibilia (shown below), the movie begins slowly and features a leading character  you will probably not much care for initially. Bear with him, and his film, please. 

This really lovely and slowly ingratiating work builds so strongly and so well that I suspect that you will, just as do its death-threatened cast of characters, by the finale be holding on for dear life.

That leading character, played by Elio Germano, an actor who seems to have cornered the Italian market on troubled, problemed, bizarre people (from My Brother Is an Only Child and The Past Is a Foreign Land onwards to Magnificent Prescence, Suburra, Tenderness and The Man Without Gravity), is a self-involved scientist/inventor who consistently places his own needs and desires above that of everyone from the State to his would-be girlfriend. He may be difficult to root for, but as his latest project surprisingly takes off -- building his own island far enough from the coast of Italy so that he can legally declare it a "nation" -- siding with this guy and hoping for the best becomes more and more difficult NOT to do.

As an actor Signore Germano (above, left, and below, center) rarely begs for sympathy; consequently, once he gets it, you feel it's well-earned. Here, as Rose Island (the character's family name) begins to prosper-and-then-some, adding a most interesting array of staff in the process (shown below), the international publicity the "island" gets (the movie is set back in the 1960s when these events actually took place) attracts the negative attention of everyone from the local police and the Italian government to, yes, The Vatican.

Filmmaker Sibilia plays all this for maximum suspense, humor and emotion; slowly and very surely, he achieves his every end. The fine supporting cast, many of them new to my eyes. proves all you could ask, and how the power of the state (thank god this is 1960s Italy rather than today's Russia, Brazil or The Philippines) seduces and induces until it finally brings this amazing, based-on-life tale to its close. 

In the process characters grow and change, at least a bit, and our own ideas of freedom and what this means and is worth may change a tad, too. Stick around for the end credits to see some photos of the real-life people involved.

Streaming now on Netflix, Rose Island -- in Italian with English subtitles and running just under two full hours -- is very close to a must-see movie. (One of the funniest moments in the film has to do with the particular movie being viewed by this Italian audience, above, and its response to that "classic" film.)