Similar to his contemporary, Jafar Panahi, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof has been faced with brief jail time and a ban from making films, along with a ban from leaving the country for a period of time. That hasn’t stopped him from continuing his art. There Is No Evil marks his first film since the enactment of the ban after his 2017 film, A Man Of Integrity, which was seen by the powers that be as “propaganda against the system.” There Is No Evil was made in secrecy, and Rasoulof was unable to attend the screenings at the various festivals where it played.
There Is No Evil is an anthology film, tackling four stories, connected not by characters or plot, but by theme, that being the death penalty and the various ways it can play into the lives of people. The first story follows Heshmat (Ehsan Mirhosseini), who we watch deal in the everyday headaches of being a family man. He seems very unassuming until we get a rather sudden and shocking revelation about what he does for a living. The second story involves Pouya (Kaveh Ahangar), a deeply conflicted soldier acting as a nervous wreck as he nears his first execution.
The third story also involves a soldier, this time – Javad (Mohammad Valizadegan). He is on a brief leave, and has chosen to spend the time with his girlfriend, Nana (Mahtab Servati). He seeks to propose, but as the day goes by, he is made aware of some information that puts a wedge in their relationship. The film story ends the films with a slow burn, as it follows Bahram (Mohammad Seddighimehr), an ailing man who lives fairly isolated with his wife, Zaman (Jilla Shahi), working as beekeepers, and occasionally offer help for medical emergencies for the locals. Their college-aged niece, Darya (Baran Rasoulof), has come to visit, and finds out a terrible truth when they go out hunting.
The film’s somber and cerebral might feel like homework, but the work put into the craft is quite astonishing. While some of Panahi’s recent work may certainly look like they were made guerilla style, Rasoulof and his collaboration with Ashkan Ashkani, explore these stories with wide vistas and a grand sense of scope, utilizing their environments to inform the characters and the overall mood. It looks fantastic, and it moves in a way that is tight and slick, making use of intimate shots along with extended and impressive tracking shots. You would think he has all the resources in the world while he was making this.
The four stories explore Iran’s death penalty with very different perspectives, and Rasoulof’s writing allows for everyone to have room to breath, really digging into the motivations of each character we come across, and showcasing a well rounded look at how this institution affects them and the ones around them, and why some may differ in their opinions, though it becomes pretty clear which way the filmmakers lean on this particular topic. While it might sometimes feel like it relies on the element of surprise with some of these stories, it is done in a way that is nuanced, and in a way that I think would be very rewarding upon revisit.
At its best, There Is No Evil uses one of the most classic ways of engaging an audience – by making them ask questions, especially ones where they debate on how they would react in similar situations that our characters might face. In segments like the second one, with Pouya, this aspect of the film is made very clear. How would we react? Would you follow orders? Would you rebel? Perhaps flee? What does this practice say about us as individuals and as a society? Obviously, that is far too loaded of a question to expect any kind of answer from, especially with film, but Mohammad Rasoulof really encourages you to think, and he does it in a way that is best suited for the medium of film, by getting you involved with characters and using the camera to explore these ideas in ways that are challenging yet compelling. And you don’t have to be from Iran to relate to this.
There Is No Evil will open in select theaters and virtual cinemas on May 14th.