“Iron Island”–a powerful symbolic drama set in an impoverished Arab-Iranian community living aboard an abandoned oil tanker in the Persian Gulf–is another example of the riddle of Iranian cinema. The region may be in turmoil, the country at the center of world tensions. Yet Iran’s filmmakers continue to make excellent, artistically ambitious movies with strong humanistic themes.
This remarkable debut feature by writer-director Mohammad Rasoulof is a case in point. It’s a beautifully shot, written and acted piece that contains strong messages against both war and exploitation. In the film, aboard the tanker off Iran’s coast, we follow this community’s last days; the vessel’s schoolteacher has discovered that the ship is slowly sinking. Meanwhile, old Capt. Nemat (Ali Nasirian), who runs the iron island with an iron hand, also has learned that the owners are about to retrieve and evacuate it. Complicating matters still further are an inconvenient love affair between one of Nemat’s young proteges, Ahmad (Hossein Farzi-Zadeh) and a young girl (Neda Pakdaman) promised to a wealthy suitor.
“Iron Island” is dramatically engrossing and visually enthralling. The unbroken moving camera takes of the huge tanker looming out of the gulf exert an almost hypnotic spell; so do the richly packed shots that travel through the ragged, boisterous throngs on board. The sequence where Nemat punishes Ahmad by repeatedly dunking him in the water generates the same agonizing suspense as the drowning scene in Paul Newman’s “Sometimes a Great Notion.” Star Nasirian, now 72, exerts a hypnotic spell too. He’s the legendary actor of many Iranian movies, including Dariush Mehrjui’s highly influential 1969 classic “The Cow.” This is one of Nasirian’s most memorable roles: an energetic, paternalistic but increasingly desperate small-time tyrant dictating the last days of his ragtag beleaguered community, marooned in the waters off a sun-seared desert. In Persian with English subtitles. Opens Friday at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St. Call 312-846-2800 or visit www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
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No MPAA rating (parents cautioned for intense and emotional scenes).