Le Président

Silence against cruelty only helps tyranny to become stronger, even worse than the worst dictator is the people who remain silent in his reign of terror. The president (2014) is poetic, poignant and precise.

Mohsen Makhmalbaf's 'The President' is a golden sociopolitical commentary piece that utilizes cinematography and satire to achieve his thesis. The film is beautifully written with touches of cultural realism coming from Makhmalbaf's Iranian background. The film follows the journey of a dictator, from an adored totalitarianism figure to a fallen, wanted man. The story is unforgettable and shocking, it starts a conversation on the fate of dictatorship, with an unexpected ending that leaves you thinking. The ending of the film is haunting, it is somewhat horrific in the sense that it represents humanity in its most brutal form, but more so, the ending was uncertain. Makhmalbaf comments on political dictatorship through 'The President,' but he does not force a view on the audience. This film allows the space for individual interpretations and opinions. This is a must watch. It is also evident that Makhmalbaf's stylistic choices shift significantly from his 1992 film 'Once Upon A Time, Cinema' where censorship and retraction were enforced on his production, to 'The President' where the entire film was shot in Georgia with less governmental guidelines. His style for films changes, and therefore structurally progressed. Both films, though stylistically different, are monumental films that present Makhmalbaf as an auteur.

Set in a non existent country we meet El Presidente, or 'your Majesty' as he likes to be called. He is a nasty, self obsessed man who has surrounded himself with the trappings of any self respecting tyrant. His children are spoilt, he out corrupts the most corrupt and most of his fawning subjects hate his twisted guts.

Then the people just crack over his latest outrage and a revolution kicks off; as he has been detached from reality for so long he is unaware quite how bad things are and elects to stay to sort out the kerfuffle. His grandson – a mere boy- also wants to stay with him, and grandpops relents. Soon they are on their own and having to survive by their wits.

Now this is a film made in Georgian and the sub titles could have been better, but it has a momentum right from the start that just grips you and makes you want to go for the ride. The performances are excellent, the action sequences realistic and often brutal. The filth and detritus that we see as the plot unfolds can be quite moving too. Add to all of that a very humanist story and you get a well made, conceived and presented original piece of cinema.

The fact that this is a fictional country means, that it is not penned in by the constraints of history and so is free to concentrate on the human side of the story. This also means that we avoid political dogma and just see what extremism can do to people. Well worth a punt even if you are half curious as I strongly feel you will not be disappointed.

A dictator falls into a position of traitor in his country as the result of social conflictional rebel. That unnamed country metaphorizes any dictatorship regyme in the real world. The president faces the cruelty, poverty and madness which are caused by his despotic politics. What an irony of truth is that Iranian Director Makhmalbaf had to shoot the film in Georgia and Tajikistan because of conservative preventions of Iranian governments. The president is really a brilliant movie and it indicates Makhmalbaf's top level of directorship experience.

A dictator and his naive grandson witness a revolution in the making. Neither seems phased by the reasons for the uprising. The grandson is obsessed with finding his friend Maria and the old man just wants to escape the country alive.

The tone of this movie takes a turn to the darkside about an hour into the film. It doesn't look good for either, but what annoys me about the boy is his naivete. He never seems to understand the gravity of his situation. He is repeatedly told by his grandfather to just cover his ears and eyes, and he obediently complies.

While the dictator is ruler of an unnamed country, I saw a resemblance with the old actor to Tsar Nicholas II as he would have looked had he not been executed when he was just 50 years old.