The Deer

Masoud Kimiai's Iranian film opens with a militant wounded after a bank robbery. Looking for shelter he goes to the house of a childhood friend, finds him an addict and decides to stay; the relation between the two slowly changes direction. The film is set in the poor districts of pre-revolutionary Tehran and shows their hopelessness directly. The censors forced a change to the ending; versions of different lengths went into circulation and the director's cut remained unseen for a long time. Behrouz Vossoughi and Faramarz Gharibian lead. The film's name is bound up with the fire at the Cinema Rex in Abadan in 1978; the blaze, set during a screening, killed hundreds and is counted among the turning points on the road to the revolution. Who it's for: those curious about pre-revolutionary Iranian cinema. Who it's not for: viewers for whom scenes of addiction and violence would sit heavily.