A Hero

Most of us at some point in our life have come to a decision where we must choose between what we consider morally right and what would be best for us. In Asghar Farhadi ‘s new film A Hero that situation is in full view as Rahim (Amir Jadidi) does the right thing only to see the aftermath not go as planned. Instead we go into how complex honesty is, or in this case draws the attention to the many layers that can exist due to a person’s honesty.

We start with seeing Rahim being released on a two day leave from prison in order to raise money to pay off a debt that was run up because his business failed. That money for his business was originally from loan sharks and after a relative, Bahram (Mohsen Tanabandeh) pays the debt, which he does so while sacrificing his own daughter’s dowry, he has Rahim arrested so that he can have his debt repaid to him. That is starting to look possible when Rahim’s girlfriend Farkhondeh (Sahar Goldust) finds a lost bag at a bus top that contains some gold coins that can cover most of the debt. After getting fair market value for the coins, Rahim decides he wants to advertise the lost bag, in hopes to find the owner who lost something of so much value. When a woman comes forward and correctly identifies the bag and its contents, the prison sees it as heroic, based on Rahim’s situation and help spared the news of his debt. As everyone around him places Rahim on this pedestal, the ground below starts to crack, as doubts are put out there about the truthiness of the story being told. All of this is seen through the perspective of Rahim, who is a decent man, but found himself in a complicated situation made worse. This is portrayed brilliantly by Jadidi, as he builds a charismatic character who you believe is doing the right thing and who you are openly rooting for. While Rahim continues to make decisions, ones that are not quite wrong, and also not being not really right, he digs a deeper hole. And comes to the point where it hardly seems possible to escape. A Hero ultimately tells a story that questions society’s appetite for a heroic figure who has his own personal contradictions and the whirlwind that can come from that.

A Hero is a very well-crafted film that is also intriguingly clever. Farhadi dives deep into his characters minds and analyzes their every motivation, without the typical musical layers all while told in close shots. He also makes is difficult to separate the good guys from the bad guys as the moral ground is constantly shifting. While Jadidi gives one of the better performances on screen this year, he is surrounded by a terrific supporting cast that helps shape this sharp morality play. It that has all the tension of a high strung thriller. A Hero has narrative powerhouse with lots of surprising turns and will leave you asking yourself what you would do if this happened to you.