By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Hamid Rahmanian
Starring: Hosein Yari | Maryam Amirjallali | Zabi Afshar
Original language title: Dame Sobh
Country: iran
Year: 2006
Running time: 84
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477607/
Bruce says: “DAY BREAK (DAME SOBH is the film’s Persian title) is the film I most liked at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. Happily, I have noticed that DAY BREAK and FAMILIA (my favorite film from the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival) are being offered by Film Movement, the same group that has marketed DVDs for Chlotrudis favorites WILBY WONDERFUL and MARION BRIDGE.
“Mansour is a murderer. He may or may not have a rationale for the act he committed but that is not the point of the film. DAY BREAK focuses on the fate of the condemned man. As the film opens, Mansour is scheduled to be executed and we see him being vetted by a doctor. Islamic law in Iran dictates that no man can be executed unless he is in good health. In spite of protests that he doesn’t feel well, Mansour is given a medical nod of approval and he is taken to the gallows. According to the law, the family of the victim must be present and they must agree with the sentence. The victim’s family has the power to choose a path of forgiveness thus pardoning the murderer. The executioner suggests that forgiveness will bring the victim’s family closer to God. The process discourages a lynch mob mentality.
“No representative from the victim’s family shows up. Mansour is returned to his cell and rescheduled for execution in another forty days. Again, the same thing happens. And again. Meanwhile, we get a good idea of what prison life is like in Iran and what goes on in the head of someone who repeatedly believes his life is ending. The larger part of the film is filled with Mansour’s thoughts and memories: how his family left their small village, his relationship with his pregnant wife, his struggle with work in Teheran.
“DAY BREAK is based on a true story and was filmed in an actual Iranian prison by a filmmaker who lives in the United States. In cellblocks the prisoners eat communally and entertain each other; they also seem to care for one another. Mansour just wants his final judgment to be over.
“Hamid Rahmanian has made a very powerful and moving film. Judging by the media coverage we receive, Iran is populated by barbarians and derelicts. DAY BREAK tells us that is not so. 5 cats”