A Dress Rehearsal for an Execution

In 1980, the Pulitzer Prize for Photography was awarded to an anonymous individual who captured the horrific image of the firing squad execution of 11 Kurdish men during the Iranian Revolution. The photographer, Jahangir Razmi, was so fearful of reprisals from Iran's Islamic theocratic regime that he declined to take public credit for the work until 2006. Iranian-born, Montreal-based filmmaker Bahman Tavoosi used Razmi's photograph as the foundation for an unusual project: a restaging. To achieve this goal, Tavoosi spent a great deal of time, money, and energy scouting for a suitable location outside of Montreal that could double for the bleak Iranian desert used by the firing squad (the filmmaker ultimately needed to bring in earth-moving equipment to duplicate the topography of the Razmi photograph). Tavoosi also tapped into the Iranian refugee community to audition men who would play the roles of the executioners (their faces were not seen on camera) and the blindfolded condemned Kurds. While Tavoosi's project is certainly strange, his film offers a compelling and often heartbreaking consideration of the emotional wreckage suffered by Iranians who were forced to flee their homeland following the overthrow of the Shah and rise of the ayatollahs. A disturbing and original documentary, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)