It was philosopher Hannah Arendt who wrote about the 'banality of evil': those who commit the cruelest acts can be the most ordinary human beings. This is impressively shown in the first chapter of 'There is no evil'. A perfectly ordinary man drives home, parks his car, helps his neighbour, showers, watches television, picks up his wife and daughter, goes shopping, etcetera. When he drives off to work the next day, he hesitates when the traffic light turns green. In the final moments of the episode, the viewer understand why. The shocking last scene turns everything that came before upside down. This is film making at its best.

The other three episodes deal, in different ways, with the same issue: capital punishment. Director Rasoulof is not interested in legal dilemmas surrounding the death penalty, he only shows the consequences it can have. He focuses not on the question if capital punishment can be justified, but on the moral difficulties of those who keep the system running, or who are forced to do that.

The four episodes are quite different. The second one feels like a thriller, the third one like a romance and the fourth like a mystery story. Sometimes the death penalty issue is presented at the start of the episode, sometimes it is only revealed at the end. The four episodes have in common that they are expertly and beautifully filmed. Rasoulof's style is understated and I think most western film makers wouldn't be able to show this much restraint, when dealing with a subject such as this.

The fact that Rasoulof has been convicted for making this film, adds an extra dimension to it. But apart from the political importance, in its own right this is a showpiece of cinematographic craftsmanship. Once again an example of superb Iranian film making.

This film consists of four parts. Every part is around one core topic: depicting people's free wills to execute death penalty or refuse to retrieve of one's life, under an extremely despotic regime. Also, those four parts bring different watching feelings to me.

Part 1 "There Is No Evil" This is the most shocking part for me, making me stunnng and unforgettable for its ending. Although it starts in a slow-paced moving combing with several ordinary scenes, its ending even reveals that this middle-aged male executioner has his own family stuffs to solve, just as you and me.

Part 2 "She Said, 'You Can Do It'" This part describes a male soldier who wanted to avoid form killing a prisoner. At first, he behaved like a coward, almost trembling weeping for his duty to execute tonight's death penalty and receiving the warm advices and harsh words from his colleagues. (He constantly picked up his girlfriend's call as well.) Finally, he successfully escaped from the prison without killing one person, meeting his girlfriend. Just like their secret conspiracy! From their happy faces and the roadtrip sceneries that they drived and passed by, I can sense the wind, the sunshine and the freedom of joy.

Part 3 "Birthday" This part is the most reflective for me because the contrast of 'life vs. death' reveals in a sorrowful way. The girl understood that her boyfriend was her teacher's executioner (in exchange for 3 days off from work) at her teacher's funeral in her birthday. With bittersweet tears, the girl broke up with him, firmly declaring her position.

Part 4 "Kiss Me" This part shows a father chose to refuse to execute death penalty when he was a young soldier, causing he send out his daughther to relatives and firstly meet her after many years. He decided to suppress his desire to see her with silent endurance for a long time, just because he insisted that human lives deserved better outcomings other than death (though his daughter might be hard to forgive his behavior for destroying their family relationship). It seems that there are two sides obviously: One side is happily staying with family but full of feeling of guilty (being responsible for the cruel duties); the other side is tough but still believing humanity and justice, trying to live and love.

Unlike Part 1 (executioner himself) and Part 2 (an escaping soldier),Part 3 and Part 4 reveal why some people make their decision, and Part 4 shows how the protagonist insists the value of humanitarianism all the time. Under the despotic regime, this is truly hard to make a choice. It's the point that I respect the director of this film.

In sum, I recommend this film. It's worth watching!

Rasoulof's new film 'There Is No Evil' (Persian title- Satan doesn't exist) is an anthology film (consisting of four short film-segments) concerning the capital punishment in Iran. We know about the traditional Govt. system and dictatorship exists in Iran and the result- it pulls the country towards strangulation and anarchism. The film actually presents itself as an illustration and gives a genuine look at those Iranians who serve as executioners and those who show courage to refuse. Mohammad Rasoulof's film ( who has been barred from leaving the country since 2017) is nothing but an enthralling ride, it gives rise to those questions- the terror of what it means to live in a world where every resolution brings new questions. He challenges the viewer's morality as well as its characters and fortifies them to take action. Film also presents the situation- the hardships they have to face, how it affects their life whether they do it (doing their job as executioners) or not...I think it's more about this helpless situation-you have to face consequences; a point of no return. 'There is no Evil' is also a very captivating thriller...sets the premise of each story really well, slowly unfolds the painful secrets and truths while focusing on family, love, freedom etc. to make each story to deliver their individual effectiveness. Ashkani's brilliant cinematography of sublime close-up shots and long takes, also the landscapes of countryside which actually helps to develop the story really well and certain intimacy in director's storytelling creates a poetic charm in it and takes to a higher cinematic level. But Rasoulof left us many questions with no actual answers. He explained that the film is about "people taking responsibility" for their actions, and that each story "is based on my own experience." For me he is most prominent revolutionary filmmaker of Iran; one who has seen 'A man of Integrity', 'Manuscripts don't burn', 'Goodbye' definitely knows that.

Long Live Iranian Cinema!