‘A Hero’ addresses the facade of heroism

By Teagan Warren

A lot can happen in two days. For Rahim Soltani in particular, a short prison release led him into a world of trouble. 

Rahim is released from prison for two days, a common allowance in the Iranian debtor’s prisons. He returns home to a tense family situation and is given a bag of gold coins that his fiance, Farkhondeh, found. He ponders selling them, but after contacting his creditor, Bahram, he finds that the money would not be sufficient to appease him.

Rahim decides to return the gold coins and find the owner. When a woman comes to retrieve the coins, the prison management takes it as an opportunity to bring honor to their system, especially due to a recent prisoner suicide. Salehi, prison chief of cultural activities, advises Rahim to leave out the fact that he was not the one to find the coins. The imprisoned protagonist is praised as the public honors such a noble man who could have sold what he found to become free.

However, things do not remain optimal for long, and Rahim finds that the honor that he received from the public will not be enough to get him out of prison. He and those around him commit deceitful acts one after another, creating a much larger situation and worsening the conflict with Bahram.

‘A Hero’ is probably one of the best films to watch to gain cultural insights. The film is meant to feel real, in a way that this story could happen to anyone in that Iranian cultural context. Because of this, there are less “dramatic” elements to wade through, and the characters and the situation are on full display.

Nuance is given to the characters. No one is wholly bad per se. Rahim admits publicly that he did think about selling the gold coins he found. As harsh as Bahram is, one can understand the bad blood that runs between him and Rahim. The creditor even supposedly sold his belongings to try to cover the debt.

One particular cultural aspect that was on full display was that of the honor/shame culture. I found it very surprising how the public’s view of him completely changed after he returned the coins. Although the prison management pressures Bahram to cancel Rahim’s debt, he refused and brought up an interesting ethical issue.  Frustrated, he responds in reference to Rahim returning the coins, “It’s only normal, he did his duty. Many people are in far worse situations than him. They could steal and they don’t. Are they celebrated?” 

The extent to which Rahim Soltani was praised for his honorable deed of returning the coins makes one ponder how great of a sacrifice returning the coins really was, even aside from trying to sell the coins first. Farkhondeh’s brother, who refuses to meet with Rahim because of his dishonorable status, reads a newspaper article praising Rahim’s story of returning the coins and instantaneously decides to speak with him.

Salehi essentially forces Rahim’s son, who has a severe speech impediment, to be recorded pleading for his father. Rahim wants the video to be reshot when Siavash’s speech is particularly broken. The man insists that this sort of video would be the kind to move people’s hearts.

Siavash and the other children in the film represent innocent bystanders, as they are the ones who seem the most innocent. Siavash himself is drawn into all of the cut corners that those around him take, as he is used regularly in the film to build public sympathy.

Dr. Elizabeth Wright, assistant professor of linguistics at Cedarville University, performed the talkback after the film, a fitting speaker considering her PhD in Arabic. She brought the audience’s attention to the fascinating irony of names in ‘A Hero.’ For example, one character has a Persian name that means “fortunate, blessed, auspicious, happy.” Yet, this character finds misery at the end of the film.

Continuing with the irony, although the film is called ‘A Hero,’ there is not much of a hero. Rahim has a brief heroic moment but that quickly turns into an obsession with image and honor. Bahram, the man who put Rahim in prison because of his debt to him, seems to be the villain, but then he comes to be seen as a more empathetic character. The film deals with the continuous twisting of narratives that occurs in many public stories.

A beautiful, long shot at the end that shows the cold-looking prison front desk in contrast to an exit door. This sets up a contrast about the mercy some receive but the unhappiness others have to face.

‘A Hero’ ultimately demonstrates that heroism is often a facade. The stories often told can make heroes of the villains to the point it becomes difficult to understand what is true. A desire to do good can quickly falter into a defense of image which ultimately can lead a character back to square one, as Rahim suffers.

Images courtesy of Memento Production, Arte France Cinéma and Asghar Farhadi Productions.

Teagan Warren is a senior psychology major who is a foreign film enthusiast.