Even
though it is in the Middle East, Iran gets much colder than oblivious infidels
realize. However, the cliché about traffic in Tehran is for real. Constant snow
and bumper-to-bumper congestion will further exhaust a senior nurse working ten
back-to-back night shifts in Morteza Farshbaf’s Avalanche (trailer
here),
which screens during the 2016 UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema.
Homa
is ever so fortunate the chief surgeon Dr. Shams trusts her to care for his dying
mother in his absence. That means she gets to work ten consecutive graveyard
shifts. (Frankly, the shrewish terror cannot die soon enough, as far as the
hospital staff is concerned.) Homa will earn good credit with her influential
supervisor, but it will wear her out. Unfortunately, it comes at a personally
inopportune time for the dutiful RN.
Ostensibly,
things appear to be on an upswing. Her husband Ahmad is downright chipper, having
started writing again after a decades-long hiatus. They also were able to sell
the large quantity of olive oil they bought as a form of small stakes commodity
speculation. However, she is worried about their expat son, particularly that
he might be gay, which would mean he might never return home from Europe, at
least until there’s some serious regime change.
Homa
would be an Iranian woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown, if her life were
not so serious. Over time, Fatemah Motamed-Aria drops hints regarding just what
exactly is eating Homa, all of which are completely believable. It is a big,
multilayered role for Motamed-Aria, one of Iran’s most prominent screen thesps
(she is so respected, she can be seen as an audience member in Kiarostami’s Shirin).
Homa’s
wayward son, wayward boss, and an insufficiently wayward husband are issues all
viewers can relate to, but the Tehran setting gives it an extra kick (although
not to the extent seen in Risk of Acid
Rain). Viewers familiar with Jafar Panahi’s Closed Curtain will understand taking in their son’s often barking
dog carries its own risks, beyond the issue of the prodigal’s sexuality. In
fact, the unceasing blizzard takes on almost Biblical dimensions, as if it were
sent as a form of national punishment, like the Genesis flood.
