Exodus is a 2020 Iranian drama film written and directed by Ebrahim Hatamikia. Exodus narrates the story of Rahmat Bakhshi, a war veteran and his fellow hard-working Cotton farmers that lose all their crops after their farms are inadvertently inundated with salt water from a local dam. So they drive their Tractors to the Presidential Administration in protest. Exodus screened for the first time at the Fajr International Film Festival and has created the most recent controversy. Its public premiere has started from 12 April 2020.
Production
Ebrahim Hatamikia after making of The Report of a Party, had had an idea to product a film about people's protest against the rulers but didn't reach to an appropriate story until January 2019. At the late 2018, he heard about a real protestical event which occurred on a small town. Hatamikia liked the story, so began screenwriting of Exodus at early 2019. Shoting of Exodus begun from a village of Gachsaran County and ended at Qom.
Music
Music of Exodus composed by Karen Homayounfar. Homayounfar formerly had collaborated with Hatamikia in The Green Ring, The Report of a Party, Bodyguard and Damascus Time.
Hatamikia's technical ambitions after Che, Bodyguard and Damascus Time continues here. Tehran Times newspaper names Exodus as a Road movie which reminding the audience of the Classical Western movies. It also describes Wide shots of the Cotton and Corn farms and close-ups of the main character with his very believable and well-done makeup are "eye-catching". Faramarz Gharibian portrays Rahmat gracefully, making the audience believe the character's miserable life, which fuels his deep anger, is only visible in his eyes. Everything seems fine, but the problem starts when Hatamikia tries to turn the film into a tribune to express his political views. It seems the film is accusing the current government. Kayhan newspaper noted the movie has a "reasonable, calm and firm" protest which against of Joker's "revolt theory". Parviz Jahed, a notable Iranian Critic, wrote Exodus has signs of Road movies such as The Straight Story and The Sugarland Express, Western movies such as Unforgiven and Peasant movies such as Viva Zapata! and The Grapes of Wrath but it doesn't belong to a particular genre and comes to mind that is similar to former Soviet Union's Patriotic and Socialist realism movies.
Controversy
accused Hatamikia to please the country's hard-liners, pointing out that the film was financed by Owj Arts and Media Organization, which is tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. During a press conference, Hatamikia denied that he has ever made films on request, or ever will. The film was lambasted by Reformists immediately, who described it as a propaganda film commissioned by the radicals to undermine Hassan Rouhani. The government-run Iran newspaper described the film as "superficial" and "laughable". Reformist Entekhabnews site said Hatamikia's talents as a filmmaker were diminishing and the only way he could get funding was by directly hitting the President.
