The Hunter Shekarchi (2010)

Directed by: Rafi Pitts | 92 minutes | thriller | Actors: Rafi Pitts, Mitra Hajjar, Malek Jahan Khazai, Mahmoud Babai, Ali Mazinani, Ismaïl Amani, Manoochehr Rahimi, Saba Yaghoobi, Gholamreza Rajabzadeh, Hassan Ghalenoi, Javad Nazari, Ali Nicksaulat, Naser HaadizahAbbas, Saradizarani Arash Faraghinejad, Amir Ayoubi, Ossta Shah Tir, Hossein Nickbakht, Mansour Dowlatmand, Ebrahim Safarpour, Shoja’edin Ghanaei, Fatemeh Alijani

It is not easy in today’s Iran to be a film director. As is well known, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi (“Offside”) was sentenced in December 2010 to six years in prison. He was charged with wanting to criticize the Iranian regime with his yet to be shot film. Other filmmakers, such as Asghar Farhadi (‘A Separation’), admit to sticking to the guidelines imposed on him by the government. Iranian-born director Rafi Pitts is in the fortunate capacity that he no longer lives in his native country and is therefore not at risk. He also shot his film ‘The Hunter’, which you can see as an indictment of the ruling power in Iran, before the presidential elections in Iran in 2009. Fortunately, because otherwise ‘The Hunter’ would not have come.

Ali (leading role is played by Rafi Pitts himself) is a man of few words, but with a continuous worrying wrinkle between his eyebrows. His primary purpose in life is to spend time with his wife Sara and daughter Saba, who is almost seven. His request to exchange his job as a night watchman at a car factory for something on the day shift is refused by his employer, the sole motivation being that he cannot let an employee with a criminal record work during the day. Ali tries to make something of it. It is not clear why he was ever in prison. Pitts doesn’t give the viewer a lot of time to familiarize themselves with the family, but that seems to be a conscious choice: Ali also lacked time to spend with his two favorite people. When he comes home one evening after a day of hunting in the woods, his only hobby outside of his family, Sara and Saba are not there. Initially, Ali waits, but the suspicion that something isn’t right gnaws at their absence. A phone call takes him to the police station, where he finds himself in the terror of the waiting room. Without compassion or compassion, after hours of futile waiting and a really drunken interrogation, he is told the fate of his wife; nothing is known about his daughter. Ali is seemingly unmoved, but you know there’s something brewing under the skin and it shows after a few scenes where Ali’s pain is palpable with minimal means. Despite the director’s clear stance on Iranian politics, it is only a supporting factor in the film. People’s feelings, on a micro level, therefore, are paramount.

Pitts makes a clear division in his film, both in style and story. The first part of ‘The Hunter’ is set in the big city, with many images of cars in tunnels and overview shots of the highway system. Because of his powerlessness against the bureaucratic attitude of authorities such as the police, Ali is more a prey than a hunter here. Despite the fact that that status is continued in the second part, a kind of turnaround takes place and you would rather label him as the winner, ie fighter, despite his disadvantaged position. Perhaps that is because of his stoic facial expression, which only betrays that he will never reveal his innermost thoughts. After the superbly filmed chase scene on a winding and mountainous circuit, three people find themselves in the woods outside the capital, where a steady rain shower emphasizes the hopelessness of the situation. One cop, a soldier who has been involuntarily employed as a cop, is friendly, the other is corrupt and it seems only a matter of time before his fuse burns out. The viewer is in two minds: what Ali has done cannot be justified, but what happened to him can only be classified under the heading ‘immeasurable sadness’, so his action is understandable.

‘The Hunter’ unites the drama and thriller genres, but anyone expecting a bite-sized Hollywood thriller will be disappointed. The long shots curb the tempo; the emphasis is never on the action, but on the beautiful, well-thought-out images. The film only provides the viewer with minimal information, and you have to be able to handle that. ‘The Hunter’ is certainly not a film without flaws, a little more story would have been useful and many people may not appreciate the abrupt ending, but the breathtaking images and the believable acting cast continue to captivate, even when the pace drops. Rafi Pitts remains a director to watch.