Manuscripts Don't Burn Iran 2013 – 127min.

Movie Rating

Manuscripts Don't Burn

Movie Rating: Eduard Ulrich

Covertly filmed and produced: a look at the nasty operations of the Iranian secret police.

The era of SAVAK, the Shah’s secret police force that was trained by the CIA, is luckily over. Unfortunately, the current regime has its own organization, VEVAK, whose operations may not be as brutal, but are nonetheless still terrible. Director and possibly also screenwriter Mohammad Rasoulof dares to offer a fictitious look behind the scenes, showing both the private lives of those critical of the regime – with which he is himself completely familiar – and the daily business of VEVAK’s henchman, whom he has also experienced in part.

It is not known to which degree Rasoulof is responsible for the content of this film, because it doesn't come with the usual credits. Originally, not even his name was going to be mentioned. The result is a real piece of guerilla culture, made and distributed under extremely risky conditions that are not a mere marketing trick. Which makes it that much more astonishing that the quality of the film did not suffer because of all this.

18.02.2024

4

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