Walnut Tree

Mohammad Hossein Mahdavian's 2020 Iranian film is set in the town of Sardasht in Iranian Kurdistan. Qader, a bricklayer, has a wife pregnant with their fourth child when chemical weapons are dropped on the town in the summer of 1987. The film shows the attack itself briefly. The weight falls on what follows: the search for a hospital, the absence of treatment and the condition of those affected over the years. Payman Maadi leads. A substantial part of the dialogue is in Kurdish. The narrative rests on documentation and draws on testimony; the tone is heavy and the close offers no relief. Who it's for: those who follow war drama and films drawn from real events. Who it's not for: viewers for whom a chemical attack and its injuries would sit heavily; the film shows them directly.