Walnut Tree () is a 2020 Iranian biographical war drama film directed by Mohammad Hossein Mahdavian and written by Ebrahim Amini and Hossein Hassani. it revolves around the Chemical bombing of Sardasht of 1987. The film screened for the first time at the 38th Fajr Film Festival and received 11 nominations. Mahdavian won a Crystal Simorgh for Best Director and Maadi won the Crystal Simorgh for Best Actor for his performance.
Plot
The film is based on a true story that in the summer of 1987, "Qader Molanpour" (Payman Maadi) lives happily with his pregnant wife and three children in a border village in Kurdistan until an Iraqi fighter drops his only remaining bomb on the village on his way back from the chemical bombing of Sardasht, injuring his family and villagers. Qader arrives in the village and takes his wife and children to the hospital. Qader's spouse, "Maryam" (Minoo Sharifi) is eight months pregnant and therefore not allowed to move, but her three children are being moved to other cities.
Qader tries hard to keep his three seven to eight- year-old children alive, but unfortunately lose them one by one due to the severe exposure. Qader hides their death from Maryam so that she can give birth to her child without grief. The baby is born, but Maryam dies during the delivery and Qader is now alone with a new born baby. The man could no longer endure the pain and finally explodes and screams at the doctor blaming him for his wife's death. He reproaches the doctor for not ending the pregnancy in favor of the mother's health. Qader buries Maryam beside his children beneath a walnut tree in his village. The doctor comes and reveals that Maryam herself was aware of the danger still insisted on giving birth.
The doctor also told Qader that Maryam had already been informed about the death of her children and sacrificed herself to gift her husband this baby. She had even decided on a name, "Zhina" meaning life before her death. Bursting into tears, Qader heads to the hospital to bring his wife's only gift back home but due to the improper condition of the hospital, new-born babies are transferred to other cities and Qader loses his last child in that chaos.
Years later, he is being asked to testify against the use of weapons of mass destruction of The Hague Netherlands city in Court and there he talks to her lost Zhina and wants her to hear his voice but no luck. Qader searches for Zhina everywhere until the last day of his life and finally dies in the snowy winter of 2016 without having a chance to see her.
Cast Payman Maadi as Qader Mina Sadati as Homa Minoo Sharifi as Maryam Mehran Modiri as Doctor Ahmad Zhina Zahedi as Qader's daughter Mahan Karimi as Qader's son Mahya Karimi as Qader's son Amir Hossein Hashemi as Emergency driver
Production Mohammad Hossein Mahdavian:
Cinematography
For the visual space of the story, old Negative and different cameras have been used for each time period. For the 1987 scenes, a 16mm Eclair camera was used. A 35mm camera was used for the 2005 sequences and an Arri digital camera was used for the 2017 sequences.
This was the first simultaneous use of three filming formats in Iranian cinema.
Show at festivals
Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2020 Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2020 Moscow International Film Festival 2021 Shanghai International Film Festival 2021 Barcelona Asian Film Festival 2021 Dhaka International Film Festival 2021
Reception Accolades YearAwardCategoryRecipientResult2020Fajr Film FestivalBest FilmWalnut TreeAudience Choice of Best FilmWalnut TreeBest DirectorMohammad Hossein MahdavianBest ActorPayman MaadiBest Supporting ActressMinoo SharifiBest EditorMohammad NajarianBest Original ScoreHabib KhazaeifarBest MakeupShahram KhalajProduction DesignMohamadreza ShojaeiCostume DesignBehzad Jafari TadiSpecial EffectsIman KaramianVisual EffectsAmir Pahlavan zadeh & Kamyar Shafi pour2020Barcelona Asian Film FestivalBest FilmWalnut TreeBest DirectorMohammad Hossein Mahdavian2021Hafez AwardsBest Motion PictureWalnut TreeBest Director – Motion PictureMohammad Hossein MahdavianBest Actor – Motion PicturePayman Maadi Best Cinematography – Motion PictureHadi BehrouzBest Editor – Motion PictureMohammad NajarianBest Original ScoreHabib KhazaeifarBest Original Song''Walnut Tree'' (Alireza Ghorbani, Roozbeh Bemani, Habib Khazaeifar)2022Agrandisman AwardsBest PhotographerMajid Talebi2022Iran's Film Critics and Writers AssociationBest Actor in a Leading RolePayman MaadiBest Technical AchievementMakeup: Shahram Khalaj
References
External links
Walnut Tree at Rotten Tomatoes