A whole world of good

SUPERB MORALITY TALE, A HERO REPRESENTS ANOTHER TRIUMPH FROM IRANIAN FILMMAKER

Cast: Amir Jadidi, Mohsen Tanabandeh,

Sahar Goldust Directors: Asghar Farhadi

Duration: 2h7m Available: Prime Video

No good deed goes unpunished in A Hero, an intricately plotted morality tale from Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi. No bad deed either, you could say. Rahim Soltani (Amir Jadidi) starts the movie on a two-day leave from prison, where he's doing time for defaulting on a loan. But with his gentle face and easy smile, he doesn't look the part of a criminal, and the audience is predisposed to trust him.

We're not alone either. Rahim is part of a loving family and, though divorced, is dating a woman (Sahar Goldust) who is clearly in love with him. He's got friends on the outside, as well.

And he's got an ace up his sleeve. His girlfriend recently found a purse containing 17 gold coins — a lovely little detail — but no ID. If they sell them, he can pay off part of his debt, and maybe the man who had him sent to prison will agree to let him out so he can work and pay off the rest.

But it doesn't sit well with Rahim, who's a devout man, though the subject of religion never actually comes up. He decides to post signs around where the bag was found. Its owner comes forward to claim it. Rahim is out of cash, but his conscience is clean.

Then the prison gets word of this transaction, and Rahim becomes a minor celebrity, appearing in newspapers and on local TV as one of those good-news items we hear from time to time. Local Man Does Right Thing.

Farhadi excels in these kinds of stories, where morality appears pure as the sun until suddenly a cloud moves in. A Hero closely examines the question of what drives us to do good. Is it fear of punishment, hope of reward or — just because? And if the reward is monetary, spiritual or just a warm, fuzzy feeling, does that make the deed any less altruistic?

Rahim's deed is complicated because he doesn't want to tell reporters about his girlfriend — divorce and extramarital relationships are less socially acceptable in Iran. And besides, he wasn't expecting any good to come of this in the first place. So he tells a carefully edited version of the event, and almost immediately things start to unravel.

A Hero is Iran's submission to the next Oscars for best international feature, and has already made the academy's 15-film shortlist of nominees. If it goes all the way, it would be Farhadi's third win in the category, after A Separation in 2011 and The Salesman in 2016.

And a worthy hat-trick it would be. The film features Swiss-watch timing, as

Rahim tries to do the right thing by everyone involved, including a son with a speech impediment, and his creditor, Bahram, who wants all his money thank you very much, and can't wrap his head around Rahim's new celebrity status. “Where in the world are people celebrated for not doing wrong?” he wants to know.

The subtitles are particularly flavourful in this Persian-language film, with a bit of slang as when one character threatens to grass on another: i.e., tell the police about something they did.

But I was most struck by the simplest of exchanges, as when Rahim is talking to the warden, trying to explain how a little untruth got out of hand. “You're either very smart or very simple,” the frustrated jailer tells him. Rahim replies: “If I was smart, would I be in jail?” ∏∏∏∏∏

AMAZON STUDIOS Amir Jadidi, right, is part of an outstanding cast assembled by A Hero writer and director Asghar Fathadi, a two-time Oscar winner.