2009 : Fire Keeper / Secret d’homme
Fiction, 35mm, 82min, colour, Iran
Synopsis
Sohrab, a 48 year-old man, the head of the workers of the Isfahan Foundry, have just had his fourth daughter. He has a strong desire to have a son, but his wife can not have another pregnancy for health reasons. So she forces her husband to go to do a vasectomy, which will definitely makes him infertile. But his late father appears to him in a dream and forbids him to do this operation.
Then begins a period of doubt for Sohrab. He succeeds neither to change the opinion of his wife, nor his father’s idea in his dream. His father makes him visit the hell to show him the punishments of those who have become infertile.
The Mullah who has a good influence on the foundry, despite his personal opinion about this operation, gives an unfavourable judgment in public. Sohrab’s fellow workers decide not to talk to him anymore. He is almost hated by the community of workers. Sohrab runs away and returns to the doctor's office. Once the operation is concluded, the doctor tells him a surprising secret.
Director’s statement
Uncontrolled population growth has become a scourge of our times, especially with 90% of it taking place in poor, developing countries. Iran has had to face the problem, but the country’s economic growth has so far enabled it to absorb the demographic pressures.
This film tells the story of a factory worker unsure about undergoing an operation which will render him permanently sterile, but it also touches on the very real dilemma of a nation hesitating between tradition and modernity.
Iran obviously both loves and hates the two concepts and for over a century has suffered from the pull of the two. The main character of the film finally concludes that he must choose his own way out from this purgatory of conflicting demands.
The film has a realist tone, despite its various transgressions into fantasy. Though the main character, Sohrab, is played by a full-time actor, all the other characters are played by non-professionals.
As with my previous film, Bitter Dream, this work aims to be both cynical and amusing.
The major part of the film was shot in the town of Sedah, where I made my first film, not far from the beautiful city of Ispahan. Heaven and Hell, recreated with computer assisted wizardry, were entirely shot in natural settings not only to preserve the realist aspect of the film but also to render its dreamlike qualities.
Last but not least, for the very first time the huge Isaphan foundry opened its doors to a movie team, which is in itself quite an event.