“Sperm of the holy fig” It is an excellent morality, dressed in a convention of sensational cinema. The attractive form, the Rasoulof workshop make it all the more firmly accused of the Iranian repression system.
The hero is Iman (Missagh Reh) – an educated, decent man, father and husband. After years of expectations, he finally receives a well -deserved promotion in court. This has specific, specific consequences. Better salary, better living conditions. Nothing, however, for free. In exchange for social and financial gratifications, Iman will almost have to sign judgments on political prisoners, acting (allegedly) against the current power in Iran. His predecessor in the same position could not stand such a tension, he gave up.
Iman, however, has no doubt, the family also seems to be initially satisfied (Iman’s wife, Incem, was played by Soheila Golestani, an actress involved in opposition activities against totalitarian power). However, they don’t know everything yet. For example, the fact that Iman’s work will be subjected to the rigor of secrecy, this also applies to the immediate family, including the daughters of a lawyer. You must not talk about it, they are not allowed to use social media. Paranoia hangs in the air, paranoia will come true.
See the trailer of the movie “Sperm of the Holy fig”
“Seed of the Holy fig” in Hitchcock’s almost style, the suspense is growing here from minute to minute, shows one more, an extremely social mechanism. How anger is born and how anger turns into hatred. A normal, friendly family becomes the arena of the deepest hidden, embarrassing drives. Evil, aggression, hatred, moral poisoning.
“You don’t need so much,” Rasoulof tells us. All you need is nonsense, just a spark.
In February 2025, after the talks of Russia and the USA in Saudi Arabia, after the peak in Paris, after the escalation of various conflicts and threats, this religion has special power.
“Sitting in the cinema, everyone imagines that he is a hero of the film,” he wrote, let’s admit, naively, Stanisław Dygat in “Disneyland”. The identification process is a complicated matter. We would often like to be like Superman or Brad Pitt, but by putting ourselves in the heroes of the “sperm of the holy fig”, we think rather about how good it happened, that we were born in Poland, not in Iran, and that we do not have to endure it all. It is not going well, it is not easy, but despite everything, there is no comparison with the situation of people, especially women, from Tehran and other Iranian cities.
The direct inspiration of the film was a wave of protests, which broke out after the death of Mahsa Amina. Mahsa was Kurdish from Iran, she became a symbol of the fight for women’s rights and opposition to the Iranian regime. In 2022, this twenty -year -old girl was detained by the Iranian police of morality for incorrect wearing a hijab – a mandatory scarf covering hair. Three days after arrest, the girl died in the hospital, massacred by the police. The death of Mahsa shocked the Iranians, a wave of protests swept through the country, and the figures of the daughters of Iman, Rezvan and Sany are in the film the epitome of rebellion and rage of Iranian women towards the terror of the police state.
Echoes of these events, also thanks to the use of archival materials, appear in the Rasoulof movie. Stop religious violence, stop torture – women shout on the streets, breaking the hijabs. Such sequences could not go dry.
Rasoulof managed to escape to Germany, just like the sisters’ roles, actresses of Setereh Maleki and Mahsie Rostami, but the other creators of the film remained in Tehran. They heard a whole litany of insults and accusations, among which accusations of conspiracy, agent activities or crimes against their homeland are not the most severe. Some actors were banned from leaving Iran. According to the director, sooner or later they will be arrested. “The authorities are waiting only for Oscars.”
Hope is shown in the film. The hero’s daughters rebel the first. “You are a system, a cog of the system” – he screams straight into the eyes of his father, REBAN (Mahsa Rostami), daughter of Iman.
Mohammad Rasoulof suggests faith in young, youngest.
The title “seed” symbolizes hope for changes. Even in the most difficult conditions, fig seeds produce fruit. They are unique, like this movie.
8/10
“Sperm of the holy fig”dir. Mohammad Rasoulof, Germany, Iran, France (2024), distributor: M2Films, cinema premiere: March 7, 2025.