La loi de Téhéran

This portrait of a fringe of Iranian society is powerful, a thriller that thwarts conventional criteria to make it a real great movie where we go through all possible human emotions. For me a masterpiece.

A very strong film with a theme unlike all other Iranian films we have seen which focus mostly on personal issues in a changing -and not changing- society. The thematic is the millions of drug addicts in Iran and the fight of a few policemen to control it. The violence used by the police force is appalling as a paling are the conditions hundreds or thousands of homeless drug addicts live in. Also the personal stories of the two policemen in charge create doubts as to their integrity. Questions as where the state and social services are arise and if punishment of the culprits is enough to deal with the enormous problem. All in all a great film, a punch in the gut.

I was simply overwhelmed by the fierce energy of this Iranian crime movie. The story is told from two opposite points of view: one from a detective who tries to nail a drug lord, and the other from the drug lord who tries to bribe the detective. They are both relentless and messed up in their own ways, which made it hard for me to decide which character I should take sides with. Also, some scenes(for example, prison packed with drug addicts) were so real that I often forgot this was a work of fiction. Everything I saw here was chaos : no true justice, no decent laws, no good guys. Very disturbing but a powerful piece of work.

The amazing point is, the life and the society portrayed in this movie is so sad that you don't know whose side you should be taking! One minute you feel angry at Nasser the next second you feel sorry for him. Also Saeed Roustayi must have a bright future in front of him, he is such a good director.

The hunt is on for those supplying all the drugs, by a police force who behave just like the thugs, as they track the felons down, hunting down all over town, before they're hooked like fish and sent to see the judge.

I thought this was a spectacular piece of filmmaking, it flowed effortlessly from start to end, the story building superbly with each subsequent piece elegantly dovetailing into the next. It leaves you with a view, albeit a cinematic one of a world of addiction, corruption and exploitation, especially of those with little to lose except their life, which depending on where you sit in the pyramid, will come at your own hands, those around you or the state. The only niggle is the unpalatable process of state executions that those in more civilised parts of the world find so disturbing.