Iranian Society; Ostriches with Their Heads in the Snow

The screening of the film "Snow" by young filmmaker Mehdi Rahmani at the 11th Dubai International Film Festival received widespread acclaim; a film that delves into Iranian society within the framework of a family and reaches interesting conclusions. Everything happens in a house; where the young son of the family returns home on leave from military service and realizes that everything is horrifyingly falling apart, yet paradoxically, life still goes on. In his fourth film, Rahmani is indebted to minimalist literature: we do not know much about the characters' pasts and only see a slice of the lives of this family. Everything is summarized in a tense environment that surrounds the film's characters and shares their conditions with us from morning to evening. The narrative style of the film—which could structurally owe something to Asghar Farhadi's films, although the filmmaker does not quite agree with this influence—creates a closed circle that each character occupies, with no escape from this closed circle. The soldier character tries from the beginning to stand outside this circle (he does not even change his military uniform) and is somehow different from the other characters (and in the end, he is the only one who leaves the house while the snow has covered everything in white), yet the weight of events shows that neither he nor the other characters can escape this situation. The film actually narrates a specific and calculated situation; the critical position of a traditional family on the verge of their daughter's engagement. Everything is summarized in words like crisis, honor, and downfall, and the film explores these concepts in its various layers, also referring to the issue of tradition and its burdensome problems, and critiques social issues in a non-platitudinous way (from the 'importance' of engagement ceremonies to the issue of virginity, from the aversion to divorce to the issue of honor; none of which have a place in more open and modern societies). Everything is summarized in this situation—and this present time—and the past and future of the characters are not the film's concern. In the end, we still do not know where the fate of this family will lead. On one hand, all family members are positively portrayed, and in fact, there is no negative character among them; even Majid, who seems to be the cause of the family's financial crisis, is innocent and helps others in different circumstances. As a result, the film does not condemn anyone and considers everything to be born from the necessity of circumstances. Thus, the characters in the film are more summarized in the narrative of a situation of evil rather than becoming classic good and evil characters, and the film does not narrate a struggle between good and evil (the only semi-negative character in the film is a girl who is considered a family friend; however, apart from her role in adding bitterness to the life of this soldier as a failed love, the film fundamentally does not need her story, and this aspect of her character seems superfluous). However, the film succeeds in presenting an engaging and believable situation. The rhythm of the film is meticulously calculated, and its way of informing about minor and major events creates both logical and justified suspense, and—with the help of the good performances of almost all actors—fosters the audience's empathy with each character. The camera becomes part of the tension and anxiety present in the scene, and the filmmaker's intelligence prevents the camera from standing out as an additional element in the scene, meaning that if there is movement, it is not due to a formal play but because of the affirmative structure of the scene. Although the film may initially seem formalistic, the filmmaker's perfectionism is not an element for self-display. The filmmaker successfully hides himself among the scenes, keeping his presence away from the viewer's eye. As a result, the film can guide the viewer into the created situation without any barrier; a situation that is also interpretable and easily opens the way for the viewer to add various layers to it and have diverse extratextual interpretations.