This Oscar-nominated drama is a terrifying glimpse into what persecuted Christians face

If you’re looking for a light-hearted watch with a Hollywood happy ending, The Seed of the Sacred Fig is probably not for you. But given that it was shot in secret and the film maker, Mohammad Rasoulof was handed a prison sentence and forced to flee Iran for making it, perhaps this should come as no surprise.

Anyone who’s ever watched an Iranian film will testify that they tend to be - at the very least - intense and emotionally draining. Rasoulof’s latest film, which has won several international awards and was nominated for an Oscar at the weekend, is certainly no exception. 

Protesting

The drama is set in 2022, as protests sweep the streets of Iran following the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody after her arrest for “bad hijab”.  

The protagonist is a newly appointed investigator, or magistrate, who quickly finds himself charged by the Tehran prosecutor with having to ratify death sentences - and lots of them - without sufficient time to properly assess the evidence. The new appointee, a devout Muslim whose name, Iman, means ‘faith’, is clearly conflicted about his new role, and this is perhaps the stand out element of the nearly three hour-long film. 

As the drama unfolds, the audience is left to ponder whether - and to what degree - they should feel sympathy with Iman. Is he simply acting under orders from above, or should he be held responsible for consigning countless young Iranians to death simply for protesting. Although the film centres on the life and job of an aspiring judge, as ever when the Islamic Revolutionary Courts are involved, there is little in the way of justice on show. 

Strangled by the seed

At the outset, the audience is presented with two explainers: firstly that the film had to be made in secret, with great risk to the cast and crew. Secondly, the nature of the eponymous fig seed. The sacred ‘strangler’ fig takes root within another tree and, as its name suggests, gradually squeezes the life out of its host until it dies. 

For the rest of the film, the audience is left to contemplate whether the suffocating seed in question is the Islamic Republic, from whose shackles a younger generation of Iranians - including Iman’s daughters - are struggling to free themselves, or whether the protesters themselves might even represent the seed, in the hope and promise that one day they will finally break free. 

Amid the protests of 2022, the fall of the Islamic Republic seemed inevitable. Even now, there are many who believe it to be so. And yet, as Rasoulof’s film so clearly shows, the regime will stop at nothing to cling onto its power and, for the time being at least, that has proved enough. 

Scenes from the protests - captured on smartphones and shared on social media - punctuate the film, providing context in which the protagonist and his family wrestle with their own turmoil. 

Contradictions and contrast

As someone who has heard about many interrogations through my work at Article18, an advocacy organisation that documents the rights violations experienced by Christians in Iran, it was still eye-opening to see them played out on screen. The terror evoked by blindfolding victims and silently leaving them to sit and suffer for hours. The cramped conditions of solitary confinement; being kept in the freezing cold without adequate clothing or access to a toilet. 

These types of psychological - and in some instances physical - torture mirror the testimonies of the dozens of Christians interviewed by Article18 in recent years; gentle, honourable folk who, like the 2022 protesters, did nothing to deserve such treatment. One young woman was shot in the eye - a tactic systematically used by regime forces in order to, as the head of the UN’s fact-finding mission termed it, ‘brand’ dissidents “for life.”

And yet, perhaps the greatest tragedy of The Seed of the Sacred Fig is that justice remains only a distant dream for so many victims of the Islamic Republic. Whether that dream is likely to become a reality any time soon is still a question mark. And whether the suffocating seed that gradually defeats its host more closely resembles the Iranian people or the despotic government that continues to hold them in its iron grip, is for viewers to decide. 

The film may not have won an Oscar, but for those who wish to better understand the horrors Iranians have been forced to endure over the past 46 years, The Seed of the Sacred Fig comes highly recommended. You have been duly warned. 

The Seed of the Sacred Fig is available to stream on AppleTV and other streaming services