A man with his arm in a cast who thus resembles Napoleon and a well-dressed woman are making their way through a war-torn mountainous region in an SUV. The boot of the car contains plastic bags filled with money to distribute to the needy people they encounter on their journey. But are the two of them really on a charitable mission or are we watching a duplicitous game of temptation and morality? Mani Haghighi’s previous film Men at Work (Forum 2006) already took the standard social criticism to be found in Iranian cinema into the realm of the absurd. Paziraie sadeh is a film both farcical and full of anger that continues in this Beckettian vein. Its desolate location seems to have come from another world, peopled by characters that appear either uprooted or merely passing through. The apparent benefactors always attach sadistic conditions to their handouts, making one poor man swear on the Koran that he won’t share the money with his equally poor relatives and preventing another from burying his baby’s corpse. But even as they humiliate their victims and play their funny games, reality turns out to be a highly adept opponent, more than capable of stifling their sardonic laughter. –Berlinale
Mani Haghighi (born 1969 in Tehran) is an Iranian filmmaker, screen writer and actor. He is the grandson of the writer and filmmaker Ebrahim Golestan.
Haghighi was educated at Appleby College, Ontario, then received a B.A. in philosophy, from McGill University, 1991, an M.A. in philosophy from the University of Guelph, 1997 and an M.A. in cultural studies from Trent University, 2000.
Career
His second feature film, Men at Work, is considered a notable contribution to the Iranian cinema as well as world cinema. Its enigmatic comedy is akin to something out of Monty Python, and its most basic elements align it with Looney Tunes, and yet despite its absurdity Men at Work feels completely real and reasonable. Interestingly, Men at Work began as an idea conceived by Abbas Kiarostami, the eminent Iranian filmmaker who has, through his work, all but defined his country’s place in world cinema. —Wikipedia
I think the parts that are satirical and executed as kind of a black comedy work better than the parts that are melodramatic and somewhat emotional.
A film that transcends a modern value system, something shaped by the strength and shame money can bring on humanity. This is the best film I have ever seen on its subject, each scene is a punch in the gut in a 16 round fight. I can't properly explain the film only that there is a great difference in the world between opposing value's or value systems that seem to cancel each other out, and that its the greatest commentary on money I have ever seen achieving new ground in the the great satirical Iranian comedies we've come accustom to.
Interesting. Amusing for a while. Rather perplexing. Some engrossing segments. Ultimately not very satisfying. A director to keep an eye on, though.
