Where God is not, on OVID.tv

They were exiled from Iran, but part of them will probably always remain in the notorious Evin and Ghezel Hesar prisons. Indeed, Mazyar Ebrahimi lives with the chronic pain constantly reminding him of the torture he endured there. Ebrahimi and two fellow survivors recreate the Iranian political prisoner experience for filmmaker Mehran Tamadon in Where God is not, which is now streaming on OVID.tv.

Ebrahimi had a video supply company, who was unjustly denounced, mostly likely by a business rival. When the torturers finished with him, he had confessed to the assassinations of several nuclear scientists. Absurdly, most of the details were wrong, because his “interrogators” force-fed him inaccurate information. For Tamadon’s benefit, Ebrahimi recreates his Stalinist-style televised confessions. He also transforms a bed in the abandoned Parisian factory serving as Tamadon’s makeshift studio, into a replica of the torture gurney his tormentors worked him over on. Yet, the re-enactment is too painful for Ebrahimi, even though Tamadon takes his place as the victim. Finding himself in his torturer’s position literally makes Ebrahimi sick to his stomach.

Although Ebrahimi is probably the least known internationally of Tamadon’s participants, his testimony is by far the most powerful. However, the filming process might have been the most difficult Homa Kahlor. Her memoir exposed the systemic abuse and grossly overcrowded conditions in Ghezel Hesar, but she clearly blames herself for helplessly standing-by, as she witnesses horrible acts of cruelty, while she served as an inmate-trustee.

Arguably, Iranian journalist Taghi Rahmani is the most famous veteran of Iranian prisons and Tamadon’s interview subject running the greatest risks, since his wife, 2023 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Narges Mohammadi, still remains behind bars. Dubbed “Iran’s mostly frequently jailed journalist” by Reporters Without Borders, he might also hold the record for incarceration within the film, with well over twelve years. Nevertheless, Rahmani yearns to return, because Iran is his home.

Some critics have likened Where God is not to The Act of Killing, but that is a rather inapt comparison, since Tamadon revisits Iranian human rights atrocities from the perspective of the victims. There is a genuine aversion to the regime’s sadism, especially from, but not limited to Ebrahimi. There is no question this film is guided by a finely tuned moral compass. (It shares a much greater kinship with the short documentary Scars of Cambodia, which far too few people have had the opportunity to screen.)

It is hard to imagine enduring what Tamadon’s former political prisoners endured. It is even harder imagining how a human being could so regularly inflict so much pain and humiliation. Regardless, the three witnesses he calls to testify are profoundly credible and convincing, as well as clearly scarred. This film truly required tremendous courage on their part, to revisit their past trauma and possibly face reprisals. Very highly recommended, Where God is not is now streaming on OVID.tv.