My love of modern Iranian cinema is well documented on this blog, and in the past five years or so, I have also seen a number of pre-revolutionary Iranian films which has opened my eyes greatly to the differences in the types of stories told in their cinema before the Islamic Revolution changed everything. “The Sealed Soil”'s big claim to fame though is that it is the oldest known surviving feature from Iran to be directed by a woman, Marva Nabili. Shot in secret and never (legally) shown in it's home country, this new restoration of “The Sealed Soil” gives the world a chance to see this lost film on the big screen once more. As you might imagine, I was never going to miss this screening.
Whilst the above synopsis does explain the story of “The Sealed Soil” and the events that happen within it, I think it also does a disservice to the type of film it actually is, by giving viewers expectations that this will be a more bombastic affair than it is. “The Sealed Soil” is an example of observational cinema and its pace is very slow, which could put off the casual viewer. The opening scene of the film is a very long, static scene that sees our main protagonist, Roo-Bekheir, preparing breakfast for the rest of her family. It is incredibly slow and detail orientated but because the camera never moves, and there are no edits, we are forced to just watch. Initially I feared that I was going to dislike the film, but as can happen during examples of “slow cinema”, your mind begins to focus more on smaller details within the frame, until you are essentially mesmerised by the experience, which is what ultimately happened to me. Naturally, if the opposite happens and you find yourself bored and thus, get easily distracted from what is onscreen, the ninety minutes of the film can feel like a lifetime, but thankfully that did not happen to me and I was fully invested in the life, and lifestyle, of eighteen year old Roo-Bekheir.
Like I said, a large chunk (I'd say at least half) of the film is purely observational as we watch Roo-Bekheir go about her daily tasks; making breakfast, collecting wood, doing dishes, walking her younger sister to school, mending clothes, preparing the grain, etc. There is no plot nor drama to speak of, but it is incredibly interesting watching the life of a country girl in an unnamed village of Iran. There are allusions to a bigger world outside, and to the fact that this is a village in flux, as a new village is being built nearby which the village chief expects the current residents to move to (for a price of course), but the core of the film is about Roo-Bekheir and how content she is with the life she leads. This all changes however when a friend casually mentions that she heard a man is coming to the village to see Roo-Bekheir with the intent to marry her. The young girl is horrified by this revelation that she knew nothing about and fiercely rebels at being forced into a marriage she wants no part of. She goes more and more within herself, stops talking to everyone, consistently going missing, and just being downright unhappy by the situation, until she has a massive breakdown.
Probably one of the most horrific elements of “The Sealed Soil” and where director Marva Nabili's obvious anger comes from, is the way everyone just expects Roo-Bekheir to fall into line because that is the normal thing that is done. No one cares about her happiness, or what she may actually want, rather they just want to see the village norms upheld. The village chief even tries to convince Roo-Bekheir by reminding her that her own mother married her father at the age of seven (!), and be her current age, eighteen, she had already had four children. I do not know how he thought this would convince her, but it is obvious that her well being or happiness is never considered in regards to this issue, and you can see the change in this once happy girl, content with life, after she is expected to agree to this arranged marriage forced upon her. What is worse is the way the rest of the villagers treat her, as if she is ungrateful or better than the rest of them. None of them really understand why Roo-Bekheir is so unhappy with the situation and instead compound the problem by putting more pressure on the girl by essentially ostracising her from the rest of the village because she doesn't want what the rest of them have.
I mentioned earlier that the opening shot of the film is long and static, but that is not how the film continues. It is true that most scenes are shot from a distance and that the camera barely moves, but this is to assist in the observation of the duties being performed onscreen. As the film progresses though, and becomes more about Roo-Bekheir and her ordeal, the camera does begin to get closer to our protagonist, and I think we get one close-up on her face when she is sitting alone by the lake. This is like her special place, where she goes when she wants or needs to be alone with her thoughts. She removes her headscarf, lies on the grass and just thinks. The film's most beautiful image comes at this lake too, when lost in thought it suddenly begins to pour with rain. Roo-Bekheir frees her hair, and takes off her top, sitting totally topless (with her back to the camera), as the rain pours down on her, almost like a cleansing shower. Another thing that I want to mention about the images in “The Sealed Soil” are that while they are simple, they are beautifully composed and the use of repetition of these images is interesting. We are regularly greeted by images of the arches leading out of the village, the peacefulness of the lake, the street to the school where the kids walk, and the common areas where Roo-Bekheir and the other women of the village cook their food. It is in this repetition that Roo-Bekheir finds peace and solace in her life, and these images disappear or are distorted once she has her breakdown.
Speaking of that breakdown, it is an incredibly tense and emotional moment within the film as Roo-Bekheir thrashes her body around in absolute pain and despair. It also includes a brutal killing of a little chick, as during her fit the young woman picks up the bird and in her rage violently throws it onto the ground repeatedly until it finally stops moving. It is a shocking and very disturbing moment that highlights the true despair of Roo-Bekheir in that moment (animal lovers beware).
Overall, I was pretty impressed and quite moved by “The Sealed Soil”, although I am not sure everyone in my screening agreed. A woman in front of me turned to another woman and said “what a powerful film”, to which the other woman bemoaned “It was so slow!!”, whilst I heard another guy say to his mate “well that was minimalism to the extreme”. I agree that it is all of those things but if you are lucky enough to connect with it, like I was, it is also a richly rewarding experience. It is an interesting look at female rebellion in a male dominated world, but one that seems doomed to failure from the beginning. Whilst the film is shown from a woman's point of view, it becomes pretty apparent that when anything of importance is to happen, it is the men of the story who have the ultimate say and get their way, and there is nothing the woman can do about it.
3.5 Stars.
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