The bold location of a new Iranian film, “Iron Island,” is a rusting oil tanker sitting in the shallow water of the Persian Gulf. Squatters have taken over the abandoned ship, living in it like renters in a very odd condo building.
Rated: Not rated; probably PG for subject matter
Now showing: Grand Illusion, 1403 NE 50th, Seattle; 206-523-3935
Allegory: An Iranian film set almost entirely on board a rusting oil tanker grounded in the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf. A fascinating allegory, rich in detail, plays out as the captain of the ship, a tinpot ayatollah, rules his population of squatters. (In Persian, with English subtitles.)
The man in charge of these outcasts is named Captain Nemat, and I hope his name is intended to echo Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo. Nemat, played by a well-respected Iranian actor, Ali Nassirian, is the ambiguous character at the heart of this story.
He is father figure, lord and master to the people gathered on the tanker. They depend on him for medicine, food and transportation to or from the mainland. And indeed he takes care of his people, remembering their problems and providing help.
As long as it benefits him, too. The ship-squatters contribute their labor toward dismantling the salvageable pieces of the vessel, which the captain sells off.
Whatever plot there is in “Iron Island” is provided by a rebellious young man (Hossein Farzi-Zadeh) who has become smitten with a girl on the ship. But the captain has promised her in marriage to an older man. And the captain’s word is law.
The only man who can speak back to the captain and get away with it is a schoolteacher, who keeps reminding Nemat that the ship is actually sinking slowly but steadily into the seabed. This, too, will precipitate a crisis by the end of the movie.
Director Mohammad Rasoulof, like many filmmakers who work in restrictive countries, uses allegory to make his points. The rusting tanker might be a metaphor for a ship of state stuck in the mud, its citizens neutralized by poverty and religion. In that sense, the captain is a tinpot ayatollah, ruthlessly keeping his people dependent.
“Iron Island” also looks at the specifics of Iran’s minority Arab population, since the people on the ship are members of that community. This might be of interest to Iranians, but it’s not really stated in the body of the movie (I only understood this fact after reading about it on the Internet).
Part of the fascination of “Iron Island” is that it feels open to different interpretations. This, and its rich wealth of detail, make it one of the more satisfying foreign films released in recent months.
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