Masoud Kimiai set Sorb (the title is the Persian word for lead, the metal) in the Tehran of 1948 and used a Jewish couple's attempt to leave the country as the engine of a 114-minute historical thriller carrying a 1989 catalogue year.
What is Sorb about?
Danial and his wife Munes are young, Jewish, and ready to emigrate to the state of Israel, founded that same year. Their application is turned down because of a file on Danial's uncle, Yaghub, who is suspected of betrayal. The uncle's name draws worse than paperwork: a Zionist agent named Yezghel tracks down Yaghub's home and attacks him with a knife. A neighbour witnesses the attack and is promptly blamed for it himself. Danial and Munes, now afraid for their own lives, flee to the north of Iran hoping to cross out of the country from there. Behind them comes Nuri, a journalist and the accused neighbour's brother, who needs the couple in a courtroom, since their testimony is the only thing that can establish his brother's innocence.
About the cast
Hadi Eslami heads a cast that also includes Amin Tarokh, Farimah Farjami, Fathali Oveisi, Jalal Moghadam, Yadollah Rezvani, Hossein Hosseinzadeh and Poulad Kimiayi. It is a sizeable ensemble for a chase film, which reflects how many parties the plot sets in motion. The catalogue lists the actors without role assignments, and this page keeps to that.
Context & significance
Kimiai is among the most prominent directors in Iranian cinema, and Sorb is one of his period pieces. The choice of 1948 is precise: it is the year the state of Israel was founded, and the film takes the question facing Iranian Jewish families at that moment, whether to stay or to go, as its starting premise rather than as a thesis. The catalogue files it under Action, History and Thriller, and the plot machinery bears that out, moving from a rejected application to an attack, a false accusation, a flight north and a pursuit. Reception at the time was moderate.
Watching Sorb on Ktime
Sorb streams on K-Time, where a free account login is all that is needed to watch; this page is open to read without one. The interface is in Farsi, and at 114 minutes it is a full evening's viewing for anyone interested in Kimiai's work.