Ballad of a White Cow

Mina's husband was executed for a murder. A year later the state admits the error: someone else committed it. Mina is to be paid blood money. Instead of taking it she asks for an apology, and finds that nobody will come and face her. Then a man named Reza appears at her door; he says he has come to repay an old debt of her husband's and starts helping her. Mina does not know who he is. The film, directed together by Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha, treats capital punishment not as a legal argument but as a matter for those left behind. The narrative proceeds quietly; Mina does not shout or fight the system, she only asks for an answer, and nobody can give one. Moghaddam also plays Mina. The film screened in competition at the Berlin Film Festival in 2021. The directors were later prosecuted in Iran and acquitted; the film cannot be shown there. Who it's for: Viewers who like Iranian cinema, quiet moral drama, and narratives about justice. Who it's not for: The pace is very slow and the subject is heavy. The resolution at the end brings no relief.