The Seed of the Sacred Fig REVIEW: Mohammad Rasoulof’s political thriller is a gut-wrenching narration of hell on earth

Film:
The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Director: Mohammad Rasoulof

Writer: Mohammad Rasoulof

Cast: Soheila Golestani, Missagh Zareh, Mahsa Rostami, Setareh Maleki, Niousha Akhshi, Amineh Arani

Runtime: 168 minutes (2 hours, 48 minutes)

Platform: In theatres

The Seed of the Sacred Fig Review

The Seed of the Sacred Fig’s preamble begins with Mohammad Rasoulof describing the Ficus Religiosa (Sacred Fig) as a tree with an unusual life cycle. He explains, “Its seeds, contained in bird droppings, fall on other trees. Aerial roots spring up and grow down to the floor. Then, the branches wrap around the host tree and strangle it. Finally, the Sacred Fig stands on its own.” Rasoulof skillfully connects the unusual life cycle of the sacred fig tree with Iran’s evolution from a monarchy to an Islamic Republic.

The film centres on the life of Iman (Misagh Zare) – an investigating judge in the Revolutionary Court in Tehran (PS: He’s not a judge, but a couple of steps away from being one). He lives with his wife Najmeh (Soheila Golestani) and teenage daughters Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Maleki). In this fictional narrative – that combines with real footages of the 2022–2023 protests in Iran that were violently suppressed by Iranian authorities, Iman is tasked to arrest student protestors, interrogate them and signing their death sentences. The film deals with themes of blind loyalty and family, especially when Iman’s government issued gun goes missing and he suspects his daughters and wife of stealing it.

As the narrative progresses, Iman grapples with paranoia as his family continued to break and nationwide political protests intensify. He uses a camcorder – that once recorded the family’s wholesome moments together to later interrogates the three women in the family to find his missing gun. It sees Najmeh – a women totally devoted to her husband and one who agrees with everything he says worry for her daughter whom she once hoped would become just like her.

Conclusion

The nearly three-hour-long political thriller is lengthy but still manages to keep you hooked to the very end. The political drama is not a film that aims at making you want to take up arms, it is a gut-wrenching document of what’s happening in society today that needs to be consumed and not forgotten.

The Seed Of The Sacred Fig releases in India on January 24, 2025.

Watch the trailer of The Seed of the Sacred Fig here:

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