The
latest film from Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof is an outright attack on
the Iranian government and there constant belief of “art as protest” against
the regime, which Rasoulof himself has been a victim of. From this film it is obvious that the current
regime of Iran is terrified of intellectuals and artists who may have the
ability to cause an uprising through their beliefs and knowledge. So worried are they that they seem to find
ways to incarcerate, discredit or evil kill these people in an attempt to protect
the status quo. “Manuscripts Don’t Burn”
is an angry indictment on these practices which is particularly brave
considering Rasoulof’s own current political standing.
The film
is about two low level government enforcers who have been given the task of
locating and destroying a manuscript with the intent to prevent it from ever
being published. Within the document are
very sensitive details about a failed attempt to kill a busload of writers some
years earlier. After quickly recovering
the original manuscript, the enforcers quickly learn that the artists have
protected themselves by making duplicate copies that have been well hidden and
left with instructions to be published if anything happens to them.
While I
respect what director Mohammad Rasoulof is doing and saying here and am amazed
that the film even exists (Rasoulof, like his countryman Jafar Panahi, is
currently serving a twenty year ban on making films), at the end of the day it
saddens me to say that I found “Manuscripts Don’t Burn” to be incredibly
boring. Rasoulof is very heavy handed in
his direction here, forever hammering home his points, that the film feels more
like a lecture than a story. The film
also moves at a snail’s pace and for a story like this that has a limited level
of complexity to it, it makes the film a bit of a slog to get through. Also with a running time of over two hours,
the film is far too long.
One
problem I had with “Manuscripts Don’t Burn” is I found myself regularly
confused about the timeline of the events taking place on screen and the length
of time the story occurs over. There are
times when it feels like things take place over a couple of days, and then
suddenly a character will mention that eight months has passed since a scene
earlier in the film. One of the
enforcers, also, has a sick child that needs to be admitted to hospital quickly
and we are regularly updated on his situation, which is why I assume the
majority of the film takes place over a forty-eight hour period. Then right at the end of the film, we recognize
the scene as the one that takes place seconds before the film’s opening scene,
meaning that parts of “Manuscripts Don’t Burn”
were told in a non-linear format, which I was totally unaware of whilst
watching and thus do not understand the point of. I do not know if this is a poor directorial
decision to present the film as such or if the editor is to blame here, but it
frustrated me no end.
Visually
speaking, “Manuscripts Don’t Burn” is also very bland with a limited colour
palette of grays and browns mostly. Also
for some reason, slow motion is overused in the film and without any real
significance behind its use.
Overall,
while I was not a huge fan of “Manuscripts Don’t Burn”, I cannot stress enough
how much I respect Mohammad Rasoulof and his actors for making this film in the
first place. It takes serious balls to
not only make a film whilst serving a twenty year ban from filmmaking, but to
then use the film to attack the current regime of Iran, well that is something
else entirely and you cannot help but respect Rasoulof bravery and audacity. In case you are thinking I am overstating
this fact, it should be noted that besides director Rasoulof, no other names
from the cast and crew are mentioned in regards to making this film during the
end credits, due to censorship in Iran and a fear of being persecuted. I just wish the finished film was of better
quality, because the anger behind the project is very evident throughout.
3 Stars.
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