A Hero Movie Review: Asghar Farhadi’s Latest Is an Unsettling Human Drama That Now Invokes a Real-Life Irony (LatestLY Exclusive)

A Hero Movie Review: You can't help but shake your head at the cruel irony here. The week Asghar Farhadi's A Hero is releasing in India, is also the week  the celebrated Iranian filmmaker has been convicted of plagiarism for the same movie. Asghar's protagonist deals with the pitfalls of instant fame and adulation, while the director himself sees the possibility of his immaculate reputation going to tatters. What can you say when your art imitates your own life? A Hero: Asghar Farhadi Found Guilty of Plagiarism; Oscar-Winning Iranian Filmmaker Could Face Prison-Time.

For the ignorant, Asghar Farhadi had been accused by his former student Azadeh Masihzadeh of lifting the premise of A Hero from her documentary, All Winners All Losers. An Iranian court found the director guilty of the crime he was accused, with Farhadi himself admitting the plagiarism.

Interestingly, his latest film is about a man who finds himself going from hero to zero when people begins to find holes in his story. Rahim Soltani (Amir Jadidi) gets a two-day parole from prison to settle his debt - the reason why he is in jail -  to his creditor, who happens to be his ex-brother-in-law Bahram (Mohsen Tanabandeh). Rahim's lover Farkhondeh (Sahar Goldoost) had found a bag with 17 gold coins in it, which they decide to sell to pay back his debts. Unfortunately for Rahim, the gold rates got slashed - this isn't Kerala, after all - thereby, the sale seems pointless because the money isn't enough.

When his sister (Maryam Shahdaei) berates him for having someone's else money with him, Rahim seeks out the original owner by putting out ads in the town. The ad gets answered, the money is returned to the owner, and this act makes Rahim an instant celebrity, with the prison authorities and local charities trying to bask in his good deed. However, once the initial euphoria dies, Rahim finds himself facing incessant doubts over his supposed good deeds, when even the slight detours he made to the actual story coming back to bite him.

Watch the Trailer:

A Hero is a tragic tale of a man who gets his 15 minutes of fame for a supposedly noble act, that he ends up having to defend his honour in front of every person who once backed him. The first hour of the film sets up Rahim's situation and the events that lead to his sudden spotlight of attention, but it is second hour where A Hero grasps you with its cynical nature.

Despite Amir Jadidi's unassuming body language and innocent smile, Rahim doesn't always come across as a likeable person. For one, we know that the good deed happened because he couldn't collect enough money to pay off his debts if he had sold the coins, and also because his sister told him off. He also doesn't come across well in the public charity event scene, where he allows his stuttering son to come to tears when the organisers ask the kid to speak up on stage. All in the name to gain some sympathy, and therefore charity. Mostly though, it is his desperation and his need to protect the people he loves that causes him trouble.

Farhadi is a director known for giving us incredible human stories embellished in the culture of his country. At the same time, he is also someone who can subtly change the perception you have about a character from scene to scene, and thereby making them more humane. Like the creditor Bahram, who in any other movie, would have come across as a detestable character putting a man in prison for not paying his dues. Not here, though. We find out that even Bahram has his own sorry tale to say, for which the protagonist is responsible. You can't help but agree with him when he questions Rahim's newfound admirers as to why one single good deed deserves to be praised over a person who hasn't done no trouble to anyone in his life. Special mention must also be given to Goldoost who is terrific as Farkhondeh, who continues to stand by her lover despite the world turning their back on him.

But the cruelty of fate doesn't always come from the creditor, it comes more  from when Rahim decides to capitalise on the fame of his good deed, something which anyone would have done in his place. From the naysayers on social media, who claims to know much without knowing anything. And despite being around a flawed protagonist, it is troubling to see how the pillars that elevated him to glory crumble around when aspersions are thrown around his story, which for most parts, is true.

The most troubling scene in A Hero is the office sequence, where his potential employer seeks to verify Rahim's witnesses, and it turns into a circus of accusations and damnations. From thereon, A Hero becomes even more disturbing in its storytelling when the events drag Rahim off the pedestal he never thought he would have, and bury him in more discomfort and shame. A not so subtle reminder of our society and media's incessant obsession to find out the 'hero of the day' and then to immediately forget about him or her, when other 'breaking stories' arrive. With the director himself now in the eye of accusations, it is intriguing to see how an once-admiring world would now see him post the conviction.

Final Thoughts

It is a shame that A Hero will now be viewed with some incriminating scrutiny post the director's conviction. For the movie is a well-told, deeply unsettling and distressing saga of how easily perceptions can be built and be wrecked around a person's character, though it may not be among the director's best works thanks to a slow-moving first hour. Alas, I wish Farhadi could have told the morals with a different premise instead, and it still would have been great. Or if he had given Masihzadeh due credit. Alas...

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 08, 2022 10:13 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).