Direction: Ali Asgari, Alireza Khatami
Country: Iran
Terrestrial Verses, a directorial collaboration between the multi-awarded Ali Asgari and Canada-based Iranian-American filmmaker Alireza Khatami, shares several thematic strings with Abbas Kiarostami’s 2002 docufiction Ten. However, while Kiarostami’s work was centered only on women, this project includes men, presenting a series of nine vignettes that expose injustice, absurdities, and intolerable abuse of power. Shot in seven days and produced by the directors at their own expense, the film captures the essence of an oppressive system through the experiences of nine ordinary citizens of Tehran interviewed by authorities.
Among the most compelling stories are a confrontational teenager punished at school for arriving with her motorcyclist boyfriend, a young woman seemingly caught driving without hijab, two shameful job interviews (one laying bare sexism and the other religion-based discrimination), and a desperate filmmaker whose work, based on true events, is censored from start to finish. It’s a fine blend of realism, cynicism, and humor.
Following conceptual simplicity, Terrestrial Verses is minimalist in its visuals but cathartic in its dialogue. This pain-filled satire does so many things, all of them well. Opting for explicit directness, it forces the viewer to look straight into the eyes of victims of a controlling and toxic Iranian society marred by austere religious and political principles that serve only those in power. Films like these are important, denouncing oppression in the hopes of achieving freedom, in a relentlessly clever middle finger to baseless censorship. Although fictionalized, this accessible and defiant film offers enlightening insights into contemporary Iran.
