Iranian cinema has easily bacome one of my favourites after so many successes and I can honestly say that I have not yet watched an Iranian film that I did not like! The same goes for the latest entry in my watched list: A Man of Integrity or Lerd. Directed by Mohammad Rasoulof, creator of Iron Island (2005) and Au Revoir (2011), A Man of Integrity tells the story of a hard-working family that does not seem to catch a break. But first things first.
The "man of integrity" is Reza (Reza Akhlaghirad), a fish farmer heavily in debt who desperately tries to make ends meet; surprisingly without complaining. We first see him meeting a bank employee who wants to convince him to be bribed in order to erase his loan interests so that it would be easier for Reza to repay his debt. But Reza is not that kind of man; he cannot accept the idea of bribing someone to solve his problems. Instead, he prefers to find a lawful solution himself. Reza's wife is Hadis (Soudabeh Beizaee), a highschool headmistress who understands the crucial difficulty of their situation and the essential need to find a solution as quickly as possible.One day, Reza sees that his fish start dying and realises that the dam has been closed so that no fresh water can enter his pond. As he goes to reopen it he has a fist fight with his neighbour and local enforcer Abbas (Misagh Zare Zeinab), and ends up in prison. The ridiculousness of the local authorities soon becomes apparent, as Reza, a man not "in the know" of the system has to pay officer after officer to get out and persuade people that he has done nothing wrong. Even more frustrating is the fact that after this small incident, a war starts taking place between him and Abbas who incidentally is a representative of a big company that wants Reza's farm.
Rasoulof won the Un Certain Régard award in this year's Cannes Festival for his testament against the oppression of the strongest and the power of an unjust regime that drowns the little man's voice. A Man of Integrity is an enraging portrayal of the unfair Iranian system; a critique against the corruption, ill-treatment and abuse that can be found even in the smallest societies, such as the village where our story takes place. It is no wonder that Rasoulof has been prosecuted by the Iranian authorities and has been sentenced to one year in jail - a sentence which is yet to be executed; let alone the fact that his movies are not shown in Iran as they are heavily censored.
Reza is a character that could represent Rasoulof himself: a man who combats the wrongful establishment, an everyday working individual who stubbornly refuses to give in to the pressure. And even though his uncompromising nature is battled by everyone, including his more open-minded wife, he (who was even expelled from college because he protested against the bad food that was being offered to some factory workers) simply won't do what is against his character. Or should he?In a society where one cannot survive if they are not part of the established, in a country where you are either the oppressed or the oppressor, how can one man make it against big corporations with endless resources? That is what A Man of Integrity asks and the answer is not comforting at all.
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