Studio: Amazon Studios
Review: A Hero!
In this film, Oscar winner and Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi demonstrates the pitfall of many new and experienced filmmakers around the globe: attempting to innovate a way to tell a story based on family conflicts and society issues during his non-Hollywood filmmaking career. This is a film, along with his other films, where filmmakers, movie critics, and movie buffs should not skip or look down upon from their bystanding eyes at home and at a movie theater in any country. As a mind reader, my mind tells me that most people, including movie critics, are picky and lazy about movies, but later on in the future, they need to be pricker than ever regardless of how well the film has performed. The film’s prime focus for the film’s entirety is actor Amir Jadidi himself.
A Hero focuses on a prisoner named Rahim who is spending time behind bars due to his debt he was unable to repay. During a two-day parole leave, he desperately tries to convince his creditor to withdraw his complaint against the payment of part of the sum, but things go awry as it seems.
Iranian actor Amir Jadidi portrays his main role prisoner Rahim while supportive actor Mohsen Tanabandeh appears as Bahram. Jadidi is wonderful, trying to put his serious acting to it. He studies and knows what “The Hero’s Journey” means, which is what many non-Hollywood actors and filmmakers really define right there in their own terms. He exquisitely did a far better job as a protagonist actor than any drama other protagonist actors towards adding family-friendly emotions to the storyline along the way, leaving me understood, frustrated, sad, and happy throughout this emotional wild ride.
Asghar Farhadi is the director of the film. To those who don’t know him, he is the director of his films A Separation (2011) and The Salesman (2016), for which he won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film (now called “Best International Feature Film'' in that category) on both films, making him one of the few international film directors to do so. He’s a filmmaker who is unavoidable to mention or to recognize. With his direction in this film, the main theme of the story is debt, which is something everyone has fears about. Debt is something people can’t get out of, which is what the director is aiming for in terms of crafting his piece of work. The story is nicely put, filled with understandable points of view from the Rahim character. Farhadi proves that while Hollywood has a lot of visionary directors, international film directors outside of Hollywood certainly do have some vision about films too. While the first half is pleasant, the second half soon turns to nervousness that becomes so hard and steady to watch. Asghar Farhadi has once again left me to think deeply about the meaning of life whilst growing up. It’s clear that growing up is not an option, but it’s an agreeable way to think that he has defined his styles through layering in nuances within seemingly simple plots and strong character building arcs, but every movie is as unpredictable as other Hollywood films people have watched.
There are a lot of excellent performances coming from the cast who appear on Jadidi’s side thanks to their own capability of acting and Farhadi’s direction and script-writing. All the other aspects from the cast performances, the theme of being in debt, and the story really prove my word as they gave me experience with the exact timing for original score to extract, the exact angles for the cameras to see clearly and carefully, and some dark, depressing colors from the Jadidi’s scene which makes Farhadi's directing job a one to remember and a one to praise physically inside the theater or at home.
As a movie lover and only-focused Hollywood film critic, I’ll try my best to avoid being picky about movies, but I believe A Hero is one of the best international films in the whole-wide world of cinema, clocking in at two hours. Asghar Farhadi really put a lot of hard work into it and so does Amir Jadidi himself. I highly recommend this to anyone who would like to learn something through the joys and natures of cinema. I haven’t seen any of his directed-films lately but to me, it is obviously one of his best films and is a definite contender for the Academy Awards this year or in 2022. So let me say this, if you want to watch any international film, I would highly convince you to please watch this without a doubt.
GRADE: A
(Review by Henry Pham)
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