Exodus (2020 film)

Exodus (Persian: خروج‎, romanized: Ḵorouj) is a 2020 Iranian drama film written and directed by Ebrahim Hatamikia. Exodus narrates the story of Rahmat Bakhshi, a war veteran and his fellow hard-working cotton farmers that lose all their crops after their farms are inadvertently inundated with salt water from a local dam. In response, they drive their tractors to the Presidential Administration in protest.[3][4]

This article is about the Iranian film. For other uses, see Exodus (film).
Exodus
Official poster
Directed byEbrahim Hatamikia
Produced byHabibollah Vaalinejad
Written byEbrahim Hatamikia
Screenplay byEbrahim Hatamikia
StarringFaramarz Gharibian
Pantea Panahiha
Mohammad-Reza Sharifinia
Kambiz Dirbaz
Jahangir Almasi
Atash Taqipour
Music byKaren Homayounfar
CinematographyVahid Ebrahimi
Edited byEmad Khodabakhsh
Production
company
Distributed byFilmiran
Release date
  • February 1, 2020 (2020-02-01) (Fajr)
  • April 12, 2020 (2020-04-12) (Iran)
Running time
124 minutes
CountryIran
LanguagePersian
Budgetc. 90 Billion IRR
Box officec. 30 Billion IRR[2]

Exodus screened for the first time at the Fajr International Film Festival, and has created controversy.[4] The film opened on 12 April 2020.[5]

Production

Ebrahim Hatamikia after making of The Report of a Party (2011), had had an idea to product a film about people's protest against the rulers but didn't reach to an appropriate story until January 2019. At the late 2018, he heard about a real protestical event which occurred on a small town. Hatamikia liked the story, so began screenwriting of Exodus at early 2019.[6] Shoting of Exodus begun from a village of Gachsaran County and ended at Qom.[7]

Music

Music of Exodus composed by Karen Homayounfar. Homayounfar formerly had collaborated with Hatamikia in The Green Ring (2007–2008), The Report of a Party (2011), Bodyguard (2016) and Damascus Time (2018).

Release
Alternative posters of Exodus published during public premiere

Exodus was scheduled to be screened from March 2020 onwards, but this was changed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the film was instead released online. It is the first feature film in Iran which has had its public premiere on a video on demand distribution system.[1] Furthermore, it has been named as the first film in the Islamic Republic of Iran to be screened at a drive-in theater.[8][9][10]

Reception

Critical response

According to media reports, Hatamikia's technical ambitions after Che (2014), Bodyguard (2016) and Damascus Time (2018) continues here.[11] Tehran Times newspaper described Exodus as a road movie, reminding the audience of the Classical Western films. It also describes wide shots of the cotton and corn farms, and close-ups of the main character with his believable makeup as "eye-catching". Faramarz Gharibian portrays Rahmat gracefully, making the audience believe the character's miserable life, which fuels his deep anger, is only visible in his eyes. According to a review, everything appears to be fine with the film, but the problem starts when Hatamikia tries to turn the film into a tribune for expressing his political views; it seems that the film is criticising the current Iranian government.[3] Kayhan newspaper noted that the movie has a "reasonable, calm and firm" protest, contrasting against the Joker's "revolt theory".[12]

Parviz Jahed, a notable Iranian critic, wrote that Exodus has signs of road movies such as The Straight Story (David Lynch, 1999) and The Sugarland Express (Steven Spielberg, 1974), Western movies such as Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992) and Peasant movies such as Viva Zapata! (Elia Kazan, 1952) and The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940) but that it does not belong to a particular genre; what comes to mind is a similarity to former Soviet Union patriotic and Socialist realism movies.[13]

Controversy

Iranian Moderates accused Hatamikia of trying to please the country's hard-liners, pointing out that the film was financed by Owj Arts and Media Organization, which is tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. During a press conference, Hatamikia denied that he has ever made films on request, or ever will.[4] The film was lambasted by Reformists immediately, who described it as a propaganda film commissioned by the radicals to undermine Hassan Rouhani. The government-run Iran newspaper described the film as "superficial" and "laughable". Reformist Entekhab news site said Hatamikia's talents as a filmmaker were diminishing, and the only way he could get funding was by directly hitting the President.[4]

Awards
Award Date of ceremony Section Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Fajr Film Festival February 11, 2020 Simorgh Competition Best Actor Faramarz Gharibian Nominated [14]
Best Sound (Sound Recording and Sound Mixing) Amir Nobakht, Arash Ghasemi Nominated
Best Costume Design Maral Jeyrani Nominated
Best Makeup Mehrdad Mirkiani Won
Best Visual Effects Mohammad Baradaran Won
Hafez Awards August 15, 2020 Cinema Best Actor Faramarz Gharibian Nominated [15]

References
  1. "In a First, Big-Budget Iranian Film to Premiere on VOD amid COVID-19". Iran Front Page. 6 April 2020.
  2. "آمار تقریبی از فروش فیلم‌های خروج، طلا، تیغ و ترمه و زیرنظر" [Amount gross of Exodus, Talla, Blade and Termeh and Under The Supervision] (in Persian). Iranian Labour News Agency. 13 June 2020.
  3. Aboutalebi, Samaneh (8 February 2020). "Hatamikia's Exodus, a political statement". Tehran Times (13600): 1, 12.
  4. Faghihi, Rohollah (18 February 2020). "Iran controversial director's new political drama lambasted by moderates". Al-Monitor.
  5. "Movie Industry Embraces Online Screening Amid Virus Outbreak". Financial Tribune. 12 April 2020.
  6. Nikoo-Nazar, Karim (25 July 2019). "قصه اعتراض" [The protest's story]. Kargozaran (in Persian) (430 and 431): 13.
  7. Ja'fari, 'Atefeh (2 February 2020). "روایت وسترن ایرانی" [An Iranian Western's story]. Farheekhtegan (in Persian) (2972): 14.
  8. "Iran's First Drive-in Cinema Launched amid COVID-19 Pandemic". Iran Front Page. 29 April 2020.
  9. "Iran to try first post-revolution drive-in theater with Exodus". Tehran Times (13653): 12. 30 April 2020.
  10. Fattahi, Mehdi; Karimi, Nasser (5 May 2020). "Coronavirus returns long-banned drive-in movies to Iran". Associated Press.
  11. Naghibi, Khosrow (6 February 2020). "روزگار خشم" [The Age of Wrath]. Iran (in Persian) (7273): 16. Archived from the original on 6 February 2020.
  12. Mostaghaṯi, Sa'id (6 February 2020). "خروج علیه جوکر" [The Exodus against the Joker]. Kayhan (in Persian) (22399): 3.
  13. Jahed, Parviz (10 February 2020). "زنده باد رحمت" [Viva Rahmat]. Iran (in Persian) (7276): 14. Archived from the original on 10 February 2020.
  14. Kordlu, Mohammad-Reza (12 February 2020). "سیمرغ کباب شد" [The Simorgh was fried]. Vatan-e-Emrooz (in Persian) (2864): 8.
  15. "Hafez Awards winners honored" (in Persian). Mehr News Agency. 15 August 2020.

Further reading
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