No
country has a monopoly on buffoonish presidents, but probably none was scarier than
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Fortunately, his over-the-top saber-rattling rhetoric,
mangled syntax, and constant accusations of nepotism finally turned even his
hardline Islamist extremist patrons against him. Yet, he still has a name and a
following, so this no-holds-barred satire is undeniably quite a bold work of
cinema. Qodrat Samadi follows a very different career trajectory, but Iranian
viewers will immediately recognize his physical and ideological resemblance to
Ahmadinejad in Kamal Tabrizi’s Sly (trailer here), which screens
during the 1st Iranian Film Festival New York.
Samadi
is convinced he is destined to save Iran from infidels and Western agents, but
the hardline political parties never accept him as a candidate, because of his
clownish demeanor and excessive (even by their standards) intolerance. Nevertheless,
a small group of hardcore rabble rousers remains loyal to him. Then one fateful
day, Samadi and his band of thugs break up a state sanctioned rock concert by
yelling out bomb warnings from the stage. To his utter shock, an actual bomb
explodes shortly after Samadi scares everyone out of the theater. Suddenly, the
hapless reformist party sees him as a hero figure, whom they recruit to be
their standard-bearer in the upcoming election.
Of
course, Samadi is an awkward fit for his new party, but he gets some timely
coaching from a progressive journalist he rather fancies. In fact, the brash
firebrand has a strange habit of speaking out more forcefully than his timid
patrons. Unfortunately, just when he is poised to take off in the polls, his
past comes back to haunt him.
Even
though Ahmadinejad’s old allies have reportedly cut him loose, it is still
pretty stunning to see such brazen political ridicule coming out of Iran. We
will get a chance to see it, which is very cool, but it remains to be seen
whether it will be allowed to screen within Iran. It would not be surprising if
the powers-that-be deem it generally bad for business, but hope springs
eternal, does it not?
Regardless,
Hamed Behdad completely embraces Samadi’s absurdism, playing him like
Ahmadinejad, by way of Chauncey Gardiner from Being There. He is sort of like Redford in The Candidate, but he is asking “what do I do now?” right from the
start. Ironically, you could argue this is the best press Ahmadinejad has had in
years, but he probably does not see it that way.
Even
though the journalist is a somewhat underwritten part, Vishka Asayesh has a
Persian Katharine Hepburn thing going on that plays well on-screen. It is still
hard to understand why she doesn’t push Samadi under a bus. On the other hand,
director-thesp Mani Haghighi is quite droll as hypocritical newspaper editor
out to sabotage Samadi’s campaign (again).
It
is darned impressive Tabrizi finished Sly
and has taken it to international festivals. Iran’s Islamist power brokers
may have severed ties with Ahmadinejad, but they are not inclined to appreciate
this kind of impish mockery of an authority figure. Of course, we’re all in
favor of it. Recommended for its subversive wit and general boldness, Sly screens this Saturday (1/12), as
part of the 1st IrFFNY, at the IFC Center.