DIRECTOR: REZA MIRKARIMI
STARRING: TOORAJ ALVAND, LALE MARZBAN, ALI AKBAR OSANLOO, MOHSEN KIAEI
RUNNING TIME: 1 HR 57 MINUTES
Due to drought, Rasoul has left his village. He is glad to find a job as a night guardian at a complex under construction. In the deserted construction site though, something wrong is going on.
STARRING: TOORAJ ALVAND, LALE MARZBAN, ALI AKBAR OSANLOO, MOHSEN KIAEI
RUNNING TIME: 1 HR 57 MINUTES
Due to drought, Rasoul has left his village. He is glad to find a job as a night guardian at a complex under construction. In the deserted construction site though, something wrong is going on.
FILM REVIEW:
(This review contains spoilers.)
“They’ve put all their hope in you.”
The Night Guardian is the International Feature submission for Iran. With few opportunities in his small rural village of Karizan, Rasoul, who just turned 25, has made the journey to Tehran searching for work. After several failed attempts, he finally gets the chance to work for Mohandes, a real estate mogul who’s building his newest apartment complex. When Rasoul arrives to the site, the state of the construction is utter chaos. The project has barely made any progress, despite starting five years ago. Squatters have been living in the empty rooms. The workers haven’t been paid in months, and some not in a year. No one seems to know what to do. But despite all of the warning signs, Rasoul accepts the position as the night watchman.
After signing the contract, Rasoul’s tasks are to help with the workers during the day, and then to stay watch at night for any trespassers. He gets to live in the complex, in a tiny container home. He’s happy with the arrangement, and he begins to form a bond with Daei, a friend of Mohandes and the project leader of the site. Daei helps Rasoul get accustomed to his new environment. They work together, they build together, they share stories together. With Rasoul being extremely shy and timid and single, Daei also tries to set him up with Nasibeh, a pretty young girl who he thinks would be a perfect match for him. Rasoul’s life is quickly changing, by having a new job and a potential new girlfriend, but things never go according to plan, and soon he’ll be up for a rude awakening.
With so many people desperate for work in Tehran, employers like Mohandes are able to take advantage of the situation and exploit his employees. Workers are a dime a dozen and so it makes it easy for him to offer appealing job offers while never intending to carry out his promises. A lack of education and a lack of job prospects causes people like Rasoul to fall prey to situations like this hoping for the best but getting the worst. Around one third of the population in Iran is now living in extreme poverty, doubling from 2020 to the present.
The film vividly depicts how the weak sees someone like Mohandes as a God-like figure, almost like a saviour. We get to witness how a young man falls time and time again to scams and fraud. Their faith in others is a weakness in a society where being frail is ripped apart. It’s a society built on looking out for oneself. It's unfortunately a lesson that needs to be experienced firsthand to learn one's mistake and to grow from it and learn from it. And become a better person in the process.
Rasoul might only be the night watchman at his job, but life lessons have turned him into a night guardian for his family and for his newfound life.
REVIEW: B+
(This review contains spoilers.)
“They’ve put all their hope in you.”
The Night Guardian is the International Feature submission for Iran. With few opportunities in his small rural village of Karizan, Rasoul, who just turned 25, has made the journey to Tehran searching for work. After several failed attempts, he finally gets the chance to work for Mohandes, a real estate mogul who’s building his newest apartment complex. When Rasoul arrives to the site, the state of the construction is utter chaos. The project has barely made any progress, despite starting five years ago. Squatters have been living in the empty rooms. The workers haven’t been paid in months, and some not in a year. No one seems to know what to do. But despite all of the warning signs, Rasoul accepts the position as the night watchman.
After signing the contract, Rasoul’s tasks are to help with the workers during the day, and then to stay watch at night for any trespassers. He gets to live in the complex, in a tiny container home. He’s happy with the arrangement, and he begins to form a bond with Daei, a friend of Mohandes and the project leader of the site. Daei helps Rasoul get accustomed to his new environment. They work together, they build together, they share stories together. With Rasoul being extremely shy and timid and single, Daei also tries to set him up with Nasibeh, a pretty young girl who he thinks would be a perfect match for him. Rasoul’s life is quickly changing, by having a new job and a potential new girlfriend, but things never go according to plan, and soon he’ll be up for a rude awakening.
With so many people desperate for work in Tehran, employers like Mohandes are able to take advantage of the situation and exploit his employees. Workers are a dime a dozen and so it makes it easy for him to offer appealing job offers while never intending to carry out his promises. A lack of education and a lack of job prospects causes people like Rasoul to fall prey to situations like this hoping for the best but getting the worst. Around one third of the population in Iran is now living in extreme poverty, doubling from 2020 to the present.
The film vividly depicts how the weak sees someone like Mohandes as a God-like figure, almost like a saviour. We get to witness how a young man falls time and time again to scams and fraud. Their faith in others is a weakness in a society where being frail is ripped apart. It’s a society built on looking out for oneself. It's unfortunately a lesson that needs to be experienced firsthand to learn one's mistake and to grow from it and learn from it. And become a better person in the process.
Rasoul might only be the night watchman at his job, but life lessons have turned him into a night guardian for his family and for his newfound life.
REVIEW: B+
