RHINO SEASON - MIFF 2013

Sadly, once again, my screening of “Rhino Season” was affected by the fact that I was suffering from illness and was quite tired.  My concentration levels were ultimately lowered and I struggled a little with this film and as a result my memory of it has also suffered.

From the MIFF guide, the story of “Rhino Season” is about “a poet during the reign of Shah is imprisoned as part of Iran’s destructive Islamic revolution due to petty jealousies of a driver who desires his beautiful wife.  Released after serving a tortuous 30-year sentence, he sets out to reunite with the woman he loves”.

The main thing I remember about “Rhino Season” is just how incredibly sad the whole story is; first with how the poet, Sahel, is initially imprisoned for such a lengthy time over such a trivial matter, second the fact that his wife Mina thinks him dead for over twenty years while he is still suffering within the prison, and finally, the ending of the film (which I will not give away).  In fact the whole film permeates with sadness throughout and even though the film is beautiful at times, it is also really depressing.  While I attempt to see every Iranian film that plays at MIFF (even though “Rhino Season” is actually a Iraqi Kurdistan/Turkey co-production, director Bahman Ghobadi comes from Iran), there was another reason I was so keen to see “Rhino Season” and that was the inclusion of Monica Bellucci in the cast.  Bellucci is an incredible actress who seems capable of performing with any language.  Here she speaks Persian fluently and comes across as very convincing as an Iranian woman.  Her performance is very subdued and subtle, filled with tiny movements as opposed to large gestures.  She is quietly spoken and there is a sadness behind her eyes, as well as a tiredness when we see her later in life, that totally exposes how hard life has been for her after her own prison sentence.  Early on in the film before her arrest, she shines in her opulence surrounded by her glamorous mansion and possessions, that to see her the way she is towards the finale is just heartbreaking.

Behrouz Vossoughi is devastating in his performance as the poet who loses everything in his life, and like Bellucci excels in his depiction of a person weary from the horrors of his life.  His role is mainly a silent one, as he barely speaks, but there is no doubting the pain and anger within him. We witness Sahel silently pining for his wife from a distance as he recognizes the pain in Mina’s eyes while remembering the good times they shared.  What appears to be a search for redemption, as Sahel looks for the woman he loves, ends up becoming a quest for revenge and reason that will ultimately destroy the poet’s life for good.  

The greatest aspect of “Rhino Season” is its amazing visual style and cinematography from Turaj Aslani.  This is a seriously beautiful film that is full of gorgeous images that will make your jaw drop.  One scene that has to be seen to be believed is a scene when Sahel is tied up to a pole, when the sky opens up and begins to rain turtles.  It is stunningly beautiful and surreal all at once.  In fact the more “Rhino Season” goes along, the more surreal it becomes with images becoming symbolic rather than depicting the truth.  The image of the rhino becomes a frequent and powerful one in the final third of the film, but as beautiful as it is, unfortunately the rhino has been rendered via CGI which is not of the best quality. 

Overall, I found “Rhino Season” to be a beautiful film but an incredibly sad one.  Due to the film’s slow pace and surreal tone in places, this isn’t going to be a film for everyone but it has been well acted and gorgeously shot.  The story is based on a true story and being a film that criticizes the Islamic regime AND features female nudity within it, the entire film had to be shot in Turkey, as opposed to Iran due to censorship in that country, so whatever you may think of the film, you have to respect the filmmaker’s dedication to getting the story made.

3 Stars.