Sheeple

In an Iranian slum, people survive by following whoever will lead them – their “shepherd”. But what happens when they’re being led astray - by criminals, by customs that only cause pain, by dysfunctional family relationships, by misguided egos and by desperate poverty? This film takes us through the lives of these people – finding survival under the most desperate of circumstances, and confronted by the collapse of things they thought were certain.

This is compelling filmmaking – there’s a perverse sense of humour about some of this, as the characters minor squabbles end up assuming life-and-death importance, and a balanced sense of reality – this isn’t something where so much misery is piled on for so long that only a last minute unlikely intervention can prevent the audience from wanting to slash their wrists. The only flaw is that the subtitling has clearly been done a little on the cheap – sometimes it flashes on screen a little too quickly to read, and there’s a couple of unsubtitled gaps where conversation is clearly happening. But it’s still a strong, compelling film to watch.