A short review of "On bruised years" directed by Govanmehr Esmaeilpour

The feature film “On bruised years”, directed by Govanmehr Esmailpour, is an experimental film with a special theme. This movie uses mythos as the subject of its script and with its help of it, it examines the philosophy of life and death, the confrontations with death, the attitude of man toward death, and human nature.

In a village (which does not have a specific place or time or any specific historical moment), People make a pole to ward off evil and take the pole to another village by performing a ritual ceremony. In legends, it is said that if one of the residents falls to the ground on the way, the angel of death will accompany him and that person will die within a year. This incident happened to one of the villagers called “Baramad”. After that, we witness his confrontation with the spirit of death, which has now appeared, and on the other hand the people of the village are about to seize the lands of Baramad and his wife.

The main character "Baramad" and then his wife "Mah Dar Mah" are introduced to the audience at the beginning of the film, but not much information is obtained from them. Other villagers also remember the same familiar types of village people. However, characterization is not very important in this script, because the writer and director of the film is trying to show a creature called a human being, apart from the diversity of his temperament, in certain situations, his human nature forces him to make decisions. Meanwhile, “Salmon's” personality is different from other villagers, but the details of his relationship with Baramd are not discussed.

In addition to exploring the philosophy of death, the director also criticizes the tradition of male ownership of women, such as land. All the villagers fight with each other over the woman and the land and consider themselves the owner of the woman and her body in the absence of the husband. But "Mah Dar Mah" first stands in front of them by staying at home and waiting for her husband, and in the end, she sets fire to herself and the chief (village headman ) where he came to marry her. She is a symbol of love and loyalty and is willing to die but no one owns her body.

In the end, this is love that remains and the spirit of death falls in love with this love.

The director of the movie "on bruised years" has done well in choosing the filming location and created the atmosphere of the village well. Using a lot of long shots and not many close-ups of the characters except for Baramad and Mah dar Mah, along with the choice of an omniscient narrator, helps convey the content of the film. Sometimes the rhythm of the movie slows down and some scenes seem to be extra. However, the director managed to produce an acceptable low-budget film far from the common atmosphere of Iranian cinema.

Mahsa Alinaghian