Achilles

“Nicknamed Achilles, Farid (Mirsaeed Molavian), a former filmmaker, now works nights as an orthotist in Iran’s capital. Broken by the only political system his generation has ever known, he is consumed by anger and sorrow. One night, after a colleague’s devastating revelation of losing her son and additionally suffering 26 days before authorities permitted his body to be claimed, Achilles’s apathy begins to crumble. Meanwhile, the administration is cracking down on his lack of rule-following, which leads him to a hospital’s restricted psychiatric ward. There, he meets a sedated patient, handcuffed to her bed: Hedieh (Behdokht Valian), a political prisoner who has been institutionalized for years. Now, with the help of Achilles, she will again experience freedom — which, as those who have lived without it know, is regained at a cost. The duo’s only option is to flee.”

Is cinema a tool for political awareness or political indoctrination? Are filmmakers heroes or antiheroes for taking a political stance against the oppressive forces of their time? In the steps of Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof, Farhad Deleram’s debut narrates a personal story which fits better as a horror than social realist drama or thriller. His home country of Iran has been in turmoil in the past year and the level of oppression has gone beyond any measure. Could citizens ever unite and pass this darkness or can the institutions formed by force and bigotry sedate the citizens and shackle their minds? Achilles is a blend of all genres and themes but a road trip into the psyche of modern Iranian subjects and a call for awakening by compatriots and for those who view cinema as a source of enlightened emancipation.