The seed of the sacred fig tree and rebellion against power

With the quote placed at the beginning of the film, director Mohammad Rasoulof clarifies the allegorical nature of the film The Seed of the Sacred Fig. He was persecuted by the Iranian regime and arrested multiple times, Rasoulof lived on an island south of Iran, where sacred figs grow. These trees sprout on other plants from seeds dropped in birds’ excrement. When their roots reach the ground, they strangle the host tree. The sacred fig thus becomes a symbol of every power that kills.

The film won the Special Jury Prize at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, the film is about the Women, Life, Freedom movement. It tells the story of a family whose equilibrium is shaken when the father, Iman (which means “faith” in Persian), is promoted to judge, a role that forces him to sign death sentences without having studied the case files. The wife tries to remain supportive of her husband, while hoping that the new role will benefit the family both economically and socially. Instead, the daughters, who are involved in the protest movements after the death of Mahsa Amini -the Kurdish girl who was arrested in September 2022 by the Iranian moral police for wearing her hijab incorrectly, beaten, and died after three days in a coma- rebel against the father and the autocratic system he represents. It will be the mother who mediates the conflicts, while trying to understand the reality that state-run television conceals. The film shows the contrasts between theocracy and modernity, which is represented respectively by the father and the daughters. For Iman, religion is law, and law is order. For the young women, it is normal to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network), Instagram, and see what lies beyond the wall of propaganda. The event that will disrupt the delicate family balance is the disappearance of the father’s pistol. The film, which is mostly shot indoors, alternates between refined close-ups and actual footage filmed using smartphones. The work takes us through an emotional escalation, from the family microcosm to the public squares. As the director states, it is also meant to be a critique of the position of those sectors within the artistic world, not just Iranian, which are often subservient to political power.

Rasoulof seems to reaffirm that in an authoritarian regime, where tyranny extends even within the family circle, rebellion will never be completely subdued. However, the director is convinced that liberation does not come through violence, because “the most important characteristic of the women’s struggle in Iran is that it rejects all forms of violence”.

by Patrizia Rossi
National Delegate of the Salesian Youth Socio-Cultural Film Circles

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