It has been a over a week since I first saw ACHILLES and I am still haunted. This is a road trip to oppression that forces you to really ponder freedom, personal and artistic.
This is the story of a man named Achilles. Working at a hospital with orthopedics. Late one night he is called to the psyche It seems a woman has broken her hand from punching the wall, This is Hedieh, she is a political prisoner who is being held and medicated. Achilles becomes intrigued by her and he decides to take her out.
This is a film you need to just buy a ticket for and just watch, preferably in a theater where the world can be pushed away and the film can just happen. I say that because this is a deliberately made film that uses long takes, silences and intriguing visual cues that you need to really pay attention to. I say that because I got to a certain point and I had a grand "ah ha" moment and I saw how it was all going together before the narrative sucked me back into it.
I was rocked. Partly because the film is so good, and partly because the film has a great deal to say about creatives trapped in an oppressive regime. Knowing that Achilles is a filmmaker who has given up filmmaking one can not help but think of Jafar Panahi who been arrested by Iranian authorities because he will not stop speaking his truth. The film will make you wonder how director Farhad Delaram, himself being a person who was detained by authorities, made the film in Iran.
This is an amazing film you need to see.
Do yourself a favor and buy a ticket and get lost. Give yourself over to it's very deliberate pacing and construction and be moved.
Highly recommended
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