The Beautiful City | Shah-re ziba (2004)

Synopsis

Akbar, 18, has been held in a rehabilitation centre for committing murder at the age of sixteen. Now, Akbar is transferred to prison to await the day of his execution.

A’la, a friend of Akbar, tries desperately to gain the consent of Akbar’s plaintiff so as to stop the execution. 

 

Cast: Faramarz Gharibian, Taraneh Alidoosti, Babak Ansari, Ahoo Kheradmand, Hossein Farzi-Zad, Farhad Ghaemian, Saeed Ghareh Khan Lou, Hooshang Heyhavand, Mehran Mahram, Aylar Valapour


Iranian helmer Asghar Farhadi's "The Beautiful City" won the Grand Prix Nescafe at the 20th Warsaw Intl. Film Festival.

At the age of 16 Akbar has committed a crime and has received a death penalty. For the moment he is being kept in a reformatory school until he become legally major and can be executed.

When Akbar's friend who has been imprisoned on a robbery charge is released, he meets Akbar's sister and the two of them try to obtain the consent of the murdered person's family and save Akbar from death penalty.

A lonely abused woman warily lets a paroled convict into her life when he promises to help get her brother’s death sentence commuted.

Director Farhadi (A Separation, A Hero, Dancing in the Dust) presents one of the more frank and realistic portrayals of young love in contemporary Iranian cinema in counterpoint to the grim quest of a murder victim’s father for eye-for-an-eye justice.

The award-winning star of I am Taraneh, 15, shines in a nuanced performance as the sister trapped in a marriage of convenience to a disreputable middle-aged peddler but increasingly drawn to the ex-con who is her brother’s best friend. 

Read about this film

Country: Iran
Language: Persian
Color: Color
Runtime: 101 min.