A Hero
AMAZONAsghar Farhadi’s latest film, A Hero, is a gripping and, at times, exhausting character drama centering on Rahim Soltani (Amir Jadidi), who is jailed due to a debt he was unable to repay from his creditor (Mohsen Tanabandeh). On a two-day leave from prison, his girlfriend (Sahar Goldoost) finds a handbag with gold coins, which could allow him to pay part of his debt. However, Rahim can’t bring himself to steal something that isn’t his, putting himself in more trouble than he already is, and decides to return the handbag to its rightful owner. This prompts national television to hail him as “a hero,” and prison officials lauding him as someone who always puts others first instead of himself. But unfortunately, social media chitter-chatter creates the spread of unfounded rumors. It is now believed that his family made up Rahim's story, which causes the protagonist to try and confirm the account by himself to get a job. But more rumors, on top of more rumors, will start to crumble down on Rahim and show what his creditor believes to be “his true colors.”
At first, it’s easy to root for Rahim. He’s knee-deep into lots of trouble, blaming his heartless scumbag of a creditor, who took of all of his money and sent him to jail. Rahim believes that if he does the right thing and is always honest with himself and his peers, his literal and spiritual debts would be repaid. He always respects the prison officials, who constantly help him figure out the best for him in his predicament. Farhadi paints him as a sympathetic figure, a straightforward person for the audience to relate to and feel whenever he confronts his creditor. During the first hour of A Hero, Jadidi plays Rahim with so much natural charm that a simple gesture may as well make him a hero. There is a stark contrast between the loving Rahim and the spiteful Barham (Tanabandeh), whose constant state of anger, crossed arms, and exasperated facial expressions when Rahim’s gesture gets lauded by the media. It automatically makes any person want to defend the protagonist and shame the person who put him in such terrible conditions.
But it doesn’t take long before Rahim’s story starts to get questioned. His account keeps overcomplicating itself – he either forgets the small details he explained to the media or adds another one he didn’t say – which quickly fuels the rumors that his entire story is fake. And that’s where the initial encouragement for Rahim flips itself when Farhadi starts to reveal more about him. As much as Rahim’s intentions are as benevolent as possible, he keeps making one wrong decision after another, which puts him into even more trouble. Rahim will now need to straight-up lie to get his story straightened out, but even lying will cause more questions and more anger. He doesn’t understand why everyone keeps questioning him, even if his account is as truthful as possible. Still, social media works like a charm and will ultimately corrupt a once honest person who always did right by himself to the story’s main antagonist.
The progression from “hero” to “villain” is what makes Jadidi’s performance so marvelous to watch. The charm of the first act quickly dissipates itself when Rahim gets confronted by anyone, causing a sea of problems to start piling up. That’s especially true when the dynamic between the two characters starts to change as soon as Barham tells the truth about Rahim’s action, which causes him to go to jail. Jadidi becomes less charming during the second and third acts and more aggressive, trying to defend his honor as much as possible. But every wrong decision he makes stains his public image until he’s no longer a hero, not only to the characters’ eyes but to the audience as well.
Farhadi also never kowtows to a clear-cut “black-and-white” “hero vs. villain” story, as he keeps constantly shifting the two characters’ arc when tension starts to mount. As a character study, A Hero more than exceeds at delivering a captivating portrait of an honest and admirable man whose mistakes keep causing him to fail and reach a breaking point. However, as a traditional drama, A Hero starts to become exhausting through numerous scenes of pure confrontation between anyone Rahim meets, manipulating anyone he sees to make them feel for him until they begin to question his story. It almost feels like Farhadi’s answer to Uncut Gems, where it’s easy to root for the character during the film’s opening scenes until the movie slowly reveals more about him and makes his actions irredeemable to the eyes of the viewer. Rahim has got every single opportunity to succeed but virtually fails to take every single one of them, thinking he knows better than the ones who are always trying to help him.
Aesthetically, it’s the most standard-looking of Farhadi’s body of work yet. There isn’t much effort in crafting staggering images. However, when the movie fails in its cinematography, it more than makes up for its great editing and impeccable performances. Look closely at how editor Hayedeh Safiyari cuts between Rahim receiving a merit prize at a charity and Barham looking at him – and the audience bawling their eyes out – in disgust. It’s a beautiful contrast between the “hero” and the “villain” that will eventually get turned on its head as Rahim becomes the antagonist and Bahram a more redeemable character.
A Hero is Asghar Farhadi’s best feature since A Separation. Its dramatic tension is airtight, constantly putting the audience in a state of pure exhaustion. It’s a tragic portrait of a man whose own mistakes will quickly stain his “heroic” public image the protagonist so-desperately wants to keep and causes him never to become the “hero” he always dreamed of being. In Farhadi’s film, no one wins or loses. Life catches up to them. And that’s more powerful than crafting a straightforward story audiences have all seen before.