Review of A Separation (2011) by Rob L — 21 Dec 2012

I'm always surprised when Iranian films show that the country does possess food processors, SUVs and women NOT wearing the veil but that just shows how ingrained the way we are told how to perceive the country by our press is. This is brilliant film making that highlights the tensions between religion and secularism, modernism and tradition as well as class in an expert way, while providing nothing in the way of easy answers.

For all the twenty first century feel however, the Iranian legal system is shown to be shambolic at best, but it's far from involving lofty ayatollahs demanding the excision of limbs - more representative of the lazy bureaucracy one encounters in any country. Achingly real and insistent - this is another of 2012's great movies.