A Hero is well worth the wait to watch and a well deserving contribution from Iran to this year's Academy Awards. A Hero is about Rahim (played by Amir Jadidi) who is in prison because of an unpaid debt. Rahim earns a two-day permission from prison, during this time he tries to convince his creditor who in this case is his former brother in law to remit parts of his debt but it does not go as planned.
Vulnerability is the first feeling that comes to mind in this terrific movie. Not just the problem with his creditor but during Rahim's two-day permission he gets not just himself but all close to him in trouble. He moves in with his sister Malileh and her husband Hossein. The feeling of how they centred the characters in order to get to know them more and how they feel makes them much more human, both through how they filmed but also portrayed the characters. In secret at first Rahim is dating Farkhondeh, a woman he plans to marry when released from prison. In order to free himself of a debt he finds a purse with gold coins that he gets valued, thus he can pay off some of the debt but later return both the purse and coins. Through this act of human nature and good intention Rahim gets recognition for his actions and is planned to do a series of interviews. At first the interviews go well but the woman who later collects the purse might not be who they think she is and this starts a series of bad choices from Rahim that affects not just him but also all those close to him. A very insightful and powerful drama about morals, guilt and trying to make the right choices that is highly recommended.
Asghar Farhadi´s movie A Hero will be Iran's Oscar contribution for this year's Academy Awards. If successful this would be Farhadi´s third academy award, would that be the case also making it Iran's third award throughout history.
A Hero will premiere on the 25th of March 2022.
Watch the trailer below!
