International Feature - The Girl with the Needle (France) and The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Germany)

 

Denmark traditionally does very well in the Oscar race, and I've seen lots of terrific films in this category. This one is no exception. Karoline is a young factory worker whose husband hasn't been heard from in over a year since he went to war. Her boss seduces her and wants to marry her when he discovers that she is pregnant, but his mother is not having it. Alone and scared, she decides to go to the women's bathhouse and tries to give herself an abortion with a long knitting needle. Another woman and her daughter discover what she has done to herself, and they offer to take her in and help her. By day, this woman runs a candy store, and under the cover of secrecy, she also takes babies from desperate women who simply can't afford to raise them, and she tells the women that she gives the children to families eager to adopt. But there is a darker secret that Karoline discovers, and when she does, her life changes forever.

This was a depressing film on so many levels, but it was excellent. Of course, I never share the most important spoilers, but I can tell you that this is not the film to watch when you want to see something light. The Oscars are not exactly known for their upbeat selections, but this one is particularly difficult and offers the tale of another unintended consequence when women have their choices limited or taken away.

While Germany is credited for this International Feature, the film was shot in secret in Iran and smuggled out to be assembled and produced in Europe. It is set against the background of nation-wide protests against the oppressive government which our protagonist Iman's teenage daughters support, and in which he is forced as a judge to pass sentence (often the death sentence) against protestors who are brought before his court. He is given a handgun to keep at home and when the gun goes missing, he panics knowing that losing it could result in his own death sentence. He goes over the edge and threatens his family with interrogations that increase in intensity, ultimately causing his own downfall and the collapse of his happy family life.

While this film is very well done, it is another one that lasts almost three hours (with no intermission). I don't have deep knowledge of what it is like to live in Iran and there are many surprising pieces of the story reflecting a lifestyle of which I would never otherwise have known. On the other hand, almost every scene in the movie had me on the edge of my seat, as each piece unfolds and all one can see is danger and disastrous consequences around every corner. If this is life in modern day Iran, human rights abuses abound, and it is most accurate to say that there are really no rights at all. That's what it is like living in an autocratic theocracy, and perhaps this is the best possible lesson for our time.