Review of TIFF 2019 movie: 'Son-Mother': depicts the suffering of voiceless against the poor economy

#SufferingOfTheVoiceless; #country’sarchaicrulesandlaws; #prejudiceagainstindependentwomen


Toronto, Sept 19 (Canadian-Media): The director, Mahnaz Mohammadi, in his dramatic first feature film 'Son-Mother' crafts an authentic story of how a hard-working widow Leila (Raha Khodayari) in Iran with an infant and a 12-year old son, Amir (Mahan Nasiri) succumbs to the offer of marriage from another factory worker Kazem (Reza Behboodi).

Son-Mother/Courtesy of TIFF

The climax in the movie when Leila faces the dilemma of Amir's sharing the same room as Kazem's young daughter forces Leila to abandon her son.

The story is told first from the mother’s and then the son’s point of view and reveals the Iran’s archaic rules and laws with prejudice against independent women.

Mohammadi's passion for social issues and talented technical team is led by cinematographer Ashkan Ashkani, who approaches common situations with his creative skills.

The cast of the film is Raha Khodayari, Mahan Nasiri, Reza Behboodi, Shiva Ordooie, Maryam Boubani.

The filmmaker, Mahnaz Mohammadi is also an actor, and women's rights activist and has directed the short documentary Women Without Shadows and the feature documentary Travelogue. Son-Mother (19) is her fiction feature debut.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)