Represented by my all-favorite director and producer Martin Scorsese who actually doesn't need any introduction, comes Iranian film debut - Rhino Season by Kurish-Iranian director Bahmad Ghobadi. Ghobadi left Iran in 2010 and never returned. Starring Monica Bellucci, Turkish living legend Yilmaz Erdogan and Behrouz Vossoughi's first film after 20 year of absence in the big screen, this movie is what I call pure Masterpiece! I know most of the people won't agree with me, but this film has this Nuri Bilge Ceylan's style which I admire so strongly. It's slow paced drama that covers Iranian revolution and a love story that faces hardships and tragedy as a result of this revolution.Shot entirely in Turkey, the movie follows the ordeals of Sahel, a Kurdish-Iranian Poet, whose poems were misconstrued by the post- revolution regime of Iran as political, and landed him in jail for 30 Years. After he is released from jail, he travels to Turkey in search of his wife (played by Monica Bellucci) who is now remarried. Movie also stars some of the well-known young actors like Beren Saat and popular singer in Europe – Arash Labaf. The acting in this movie is phenomenal, especially by Belucci who speaks decent Farsi and demonstrates the ideal Iranian lady. The film shows the consequences of 30 years' absence of a husband who was thought to be dead and a story of a woman who was trapped from the beginning. The ending of the movie is left entirely up to the viewer. What amazes me the most that Rhino Season was independent production on low budget and none of the actors including Monica Bellucci were paid for their work. Nonetheless, the movie turned out to be remarkable! It is a pity that this movie has not been exposed to a wider audience. Note: If to compare, this movie doesn't come close to other Iranian master-crafts like "A Separation" which was directed by Ashgar Farhadi and won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film category back in 2012. Nevertheless, this movie has a message to the audience who will understand it. Note: Bahman Ghabodi's another known film "Nobody Knows About Persian Cats" was shown in Cannes Film Festival in 2009 which is also worth watching. In one word: for someone who enjoys political dramas like "Argo" or "Munich", this movie will catch your attention easily.

It is obvious why Monica Bellucci was hired to play a prominent role in Bahman Ghobadi's latest flick. Local (middle-east) stars won't dare to show their skin in front of the camera, it may end in controversy like Lebanese skier caused controversy over topless photo during the Sochi winter Olympics. Though adding the major Italian star who is known very well to the world made the movie to strike stronger.I don't know I felt I knew this story well from somewhere. At least it looked very similar to other movies I had seen beside divergent characters. Like the movie 'Oldboy' this movie depicts an old man who was away for a long time who enters the familiar but changed society in search of his lost family.They say it was loosely based on the story of a real person, but I feel it is fiction because real people won't behave like the character from this movie. Anything might be possible, but this movie was lacking in either character or story development. The cinematography was awesome, it had a pleasant frame tone with greenish-gray.The director thought to bring more artistic effect by adding inappropriate scenes to the story. There are many scenes where viewers may respond in questions to those parts. In one of the scenes turtle rains and in another a wild rhino hit by a car. It goes on like that, like illusions during illustrate a person.It tells the story of a man who is affected by the 1979 Iranian revolution. Yeah, the same revolution that showed the movie 'Argo' but in a different perspective and character. Overall, it was not a movie that I was expecting from Bahman Ghobadi, but still it can be enjoyed by his fans.

Considering the movie's cliché subject & slow pace of unfolding the story you can't expect it to be of such interest for a medium-class audience, This film can be favored more by critics or serious artistic intellectuals & as such is a visual poem. It contains lots of beautifully shot landscapes & indoor locations as well as pictorial metaphors that suitably accompanies the poetical nature of it, A good recommendation for audiences outside Iran as it seems to be made for this purpose.My Favorite Aspects (Contains Spoilers!)*You only realize the woman's real job at the final minutes of film!*Great artistic alteration of pictures by illuminated rain drops & high Contrast in lighting.*Intense & sometimes nervous sequences underwater although the slow pace does not allow you to fulfill these feelings!

When I first saw the trailer ,I thought it would be a great movie because the trailer was good and Martin Scorsese presents it and staring one of the hottest women in the world and also the Persian idol Behrouz Vosoughi gave me every reason to watch it ,Cinematography and set decoration was great ,it was technically good but the script was really weak ,Bahman Ghobadi proved that he is not a good screenwriter the movie was lack of pace ,he tried so much to make the movie look poetic which wasn't really good, the story was good but Ghobadi ruined the story by his primitive script and I don't really think the entire movie is based on a true story I believe Bahman Ghobadi must return to his previous method of filmmaking ,making semi-documentaries.he made great films like Turtles can fly and "A time for drunken horse" in that waySPOILER An Iranian-Kurdish poet is sentenced to 30 years in prison for writing poets against Islamic regime of Iran during 1979 revolution in Iran ,government tell his wife that he has been executed ,after 30 years He is realized and goes to find his wife