The Seed of the Sacred Fig is a 2025 drama/thriller by Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof set during the uprisings in Iran in 2022 after the killing of Mahsa Amini.
There aren’t enough words to describe this incredible film. For 168 minutes you will be gripped, shocked and at times terrified.
Real life footage of students rising up against the Iranian regime is intercut with scenes of the effect this has on the main family who begin to disintegrate before our eyes as the uprising intensifies.
The father of the family, Iman, is promoted to an investigating judge just days before the uprising. He’s given a gun for protection and is promised official housing if he does his job well.
For the past twenty years he has worked honourably, but quickly we see the pressure of working within the state bear down upon him.
As the arrests of hundreds of students a day ramps up, he’s expected to sign off their imprisonment, torture and even execution orders without proper investigation – or risk losing his position.
At home his two daughters, Rezvan and Sana, are radicalised by the protests. Excited and terrified, they watch it all unfold on social media.
They witness the brutality of the state first hand when their friend Sadaf is shot in the face and imprisoned simply for being at a demonstration. From outside, they can hear the chants of ‘down with the dictator’ and ‘down with the theocracy’.
“As an expert who has served this system for 20 years, don’t I know better than you?” Iman asks in response to his daughter’s radicalisation.
“No,” she answers, “because you’re a part of it.”
When Iman’s gun goes missing, he becomes paranoid. He has a friend interrogate his wife and daughters, before driving them out into the countryside and imprisoning them in the house he grew up in.
Unable to provide any answers to his daughters’ challenging of his worldview, he attempts to control them with fear and violence. This results in a gripping finale when the mother and daughters have finally had enough.
Astoundingly, this excellent film was shot entirely in secret in Iran. When it was announced it was playing at the Cannes Film Festival, the entire cast and crew were arrested, interrogated, and convinced to pressure the director to withdraw the film.
Rasoulof, the director, was sentenced to eight years in prison, flogging, a fine, and confiscation of his property. In response he fled Iran on foot – and with help from the crew that were also able to escape, smuggled the footage out of Iran and edited it in Hamburg.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig is not just a stunningly crafted film, it is frontline political filmmaking at its finest.
Everyone involved in its production made something that can only be described as a heroic act of resistance. We should honour the efforts of all those involved by watching it, learning from it, and letting it inspire our own efforts to fight for revolution here in Britain.
