The Last Fiction

The Story of Zahhak and Kaveh is one of the greatest parts of Shahnameh. I think Ancient Persia and Persian mythology have so much undiscovered potential. The animation industry in Iran has long way to go and this movie is a great start

Watching the Last Fiction was an overwhelming experience. Seeing Iranian mythological characters getting some well-deserved screen time, beyond their literary and often formal context, which for some of us is not so easy to grasp, was exhilarating. The Persian Book of Kings' stories have been woven in Iranian culture, but rarely the tales and the remarkable characters of this book have been portrayed in a cinematic feature, for everyone, regardless of their literary knowledge or interest. This lighthearted adaptation of one of the most adored Persian myths, was quite captivating and left many to want to see more.

Though Iranian cinema is one of the well-known and respected members of the global world of cinema, thanks to filmmakers such as Kiarostami, Farhadi, Panahi, etc.; none of the Iranian films that have made a mark on the world stage have been animations. A few amateurish Iranian animations, targeted strictly at kids, have had some local box office success but they've not been of a standard which could be exhibited in foreign markets. However, with The Last Fiction, this pattern is set to change. The Last Fiction is an animation film based on the stories of The Shahnameh, a massive 11th-century work by Persian poet Ferdowsi, arguably the greatest book in the Persian language. A sort of Persian Lord of the Rings, written all in verse, it tells the stories of legends, heroes and villains, monsters and myths. In the opening credit sequence of the Iranian-American director Ramin Bahrani's recent remake of Fahrenheit 451, The Shahnameh is one of the great works of world literature which is shown burning. A young Iranian animation director, Ashkan Rahgozar, for his feature film debut, has somehow not only found financial backers for this ambitious project but has also amassed a galaxy of Iranian film stars to voice the characters. Rahgozar wisely uses only a miniscule part of the Shahnameh and focuses on the stories of the evil ruler Zahak, his young nemesis Afaridoun and, what must be one of the earliest working-class heroes in literature, Kaveh, the Blacksmith. All the traditional elements of such stories are there: sword and sorcery, monsters, a love story, setbacks and triumphs. The animation techniques used in The Last Fiction are head and shoulders above all the other Iranian animated films and compare favourably with great works of world animation. Using beautifully drawn animations, supplemented by powerful music and backed by a strong narrative, The Last Fiction is a highly impressive debut and a landmark in the history of Iranian cinema. Though familiarity with stories and legends of The Shahnameh helps, even those unfamiliar with this book, should be able to follow the narrative without any difficulty and take pleasure in its audio-visual delights.

The Last Fiction covers a dialectic among necessity and freedom: a historical spirit which has been wandering since the beginning of civilization. This is an ambitious movie which debates the problem of revolution, and evokes this question: Are self-emancipation and liberation just one same thing? The Last Fiction tells us that the history is not useless papers among old books, rather, it is the spirit of the world we are living in. I admire Hoorakhsh Studios for this practical adaptation, that also has great entertaining aspects and correct use of animation medium.

I went to watch this movie with really high hopes & well it was mediocre. It SURELY does have the worth to be watched once or twice maybe; but the movie has some disappointing features; for example :

The music by Christophe Rezaei is SPECTACULAR but sometimes the sound of music was so high that we barely could hear the characters. I really hope this wouldn't be a problem in DVD or Blu-ray version.

The language was a mixture between old and modern Persian which doesn't lead to integration! Again I do hope the English version doesn't have this problem.

Finally the plot... Well as a person who grew up with "Shahnameh" stories & also stories like J.R.R Tolkien's, I really did feel that the plot was an ambiguous mixture between The Lord of the Rings ,The Tale of Kave (from Shahnameh) & even a glimpse of Hayao Miyazaki's works. Sometimes we would feel a plot hole & well I know Hoorakhsh Studio has a series of comic books (The tale of Jamshid) that will eventually lead to this animation BUT they should consider that someone with no background of Iran's literature and their comics will also watch this. It would've been great if the plot was more comprehensive.

After all I did appreciate the graphics; though it isn't perfect compared to great 2D animations like Ghibli's works and you can notice some minor mistakes sometimes during the movie BUT it's a huge leap for Iran's 2D (with a sprinkle of 3D) animation. Good job to Hoorakhsh Studio & I look forward to watch better works from them in future!