The President (15)
Directed
by Mohsen Makhmalbaf
,
Liverpool
22nd September 2015
Reviewed by
The main problem with watching this film, directed by noted Iranian director
Mohsen Makhmalbaf, was the complete lack of empathy I had in any shape
or form with the two main characters. One was a deposed tyrannical president
of an unnamed country (Georgian actor Misha Gomiashvilli), along with
his spoilt brat of a grandson (Dachi Orvelashvilli).
An ludicrous ending added to my displeasure with the movie.
Certain serious points were portrayed, notably the anguish suffered by
refugees fleeing conflict, but this was offset by too many mawkish scenes
involving the kid, notably when recalling his time at the president's
palace, strutting around in a military uniform, before the people overthrew
the thuggish and dictatorial president and his henchmen.
He fled from the uprising, disguised as a nomadic musician with a guitar
- he resembled Robert Plant as he looks now - along with his doe-eyed
grandson.
Probably for the first time in his life the former military dictator
sees at first hand the effects his reign has had on the long-suffering
people.
The highlight scene was when the two of them, amidst cornfields, pretended
to be scarecrows when a train carrying armed soldiers sped past them.
Apparently Makhmalbaf was inspired, in the making of this film, by the
uprisings in the former Soviet bloc and, perhaps more close to home, the
Arab Spring. But he barely touches upon the upheaval of those two earth-shattering
events.
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