Iron Island

A large rusting tanker run aground in the Persian Gulf. A community lives inside it: families, children, traders. Captain Nemat runs the ship, collects the rent, hands out the work, settles disputes, and everyone obeys him. The ship is sinking slowly, and he is selling off its metal piece by piece. The film is not interested in documenting a place. It is interested in how power operates: Nemat is protector and exploiter, father and moneylender at once. The film does not draw him as a villain, because the community's need for him is real. The form was shot on a real ship in a real location and has nearly documentary texture. Crowded scenes and narrow corridors are its visual language. Mohammad Rasoulof directed. It is early work, and the critique of authority that becomes explicit in his later films stands here as allegory. Ali Nasirian plays the captain. Who it is for: viewers who like Iranian cinema and allegorical narrative. Who it is not for: anyone wanting directness. The film does not explain its symbol and moves well away from realism in its final section.