his first film is supposed to be this one.Seven Servants. However, as in many cases with visionaries and exceptional creative so called geniuses amongst us they suddenly have a vision, a lightning strikes them and then they transfer the force of that message to us through whatever their encounters happens to be.shokof's idea and obsession with unity of mankind had to have happened initially in his maximalism "the art movement he founded in the eighties" and then further his philosophical admissions under the title "yekishim" until this dream came about. according again to his own admission the story of this incredible film came to him in a dream which repeated itself in the same very night in Germany. Thereafter he wrote the script, composed the drawings and being a craftily painter he started designing the scenes. Thus the creation of the world of cinema most unique, original and astounding production called Seven Servants. The film is actually not in anyway a first film but rather a last film from a master filmmaker who never made a movie prior to this one. amazing piece which stands tall in every facet of human creativity from the arts to the books and films. his design shines through as original as the elements of his story.He one handedly starts a movement based on shokofian style of filmmaking. In Seven Servants everything is absolutely shokof driven though he repeats all his mastery in his every future film,and still never gets the deserving applause. though It seems it is all not essential to him at all as he continued making more impressive films regardless of never having received recognition. His directing of the legendary Anthony Quinn is also flawless. Anthony Quinn never ever looked more convincing, powerful,and at ease and actually finally so powerful that it was the most obvious choice for him to receive his Oscars due many 20 years or more, and again even Quinn did not even get the nominations. The film did not either. The story neither. The directing neither. The art design neither. believe it or not it deserved to even win both the best cinematography and production in my opinion. none was achieved for one simple reason that shokof was doomed to have been politically on the wrong side of the coin. no other word explains so much mischievous under accomplishment by all existing institutes and festivals. however, now and suddenly and 20 years after, the film finally receives a slight recognition. It tops the best experimental film ever in the Ranker. It is now the best film of Quinn in ranker Quinn films. It becomes finally and gradually the Gem it is and soon perhaps even respected as the only work in form of a film that could one day become the first holy religion in form of a film. Seven Servants remains a most extraordinary visionary film in the history which will take years for us human beings to admit we did wrong to bury a grand mind and creative energy who seriously created the first ever religion having come to us in form of a film. this also explains we finally could expect amazing dimensions would come to us through cinema though it might take another 500 years as we still continue watching batman returns or james bond just cooked dinner. no rating can be justifiable for such a grand work. it is just plain awesome.

I found it quite difficult to sit through this film on DVD. I knew it was not going to be good as soon as the titles rolled. Bad, tasteful dancing letter graphics and a sepia orange filter on everything are dead giveaways. Another bad sign: two directors and a credit for additional editing. Usually means it has been cut down and possibly butchered. Reminded me a bit of the work of Parajanov and Derek Jarman. Has that kind of gay art film 'malaise' feel to it, but without the open courage and conviction of those two. It is neither film as art nor regular cinema. It falls in between the two stools. I was interested in the Gato Barbieri score but even this was very slight. As for Anthony Quinn his monologues and dialogs reminded me of the sound track of a continental high gloss porn film.

i had read the philosophical thoughts of Yekishim,and Maximalism by Shokof before i finally saw the movie (seven servants) just recently in a festival in Germany. shokof himself was not present as always. people who stood to take questions were less impressive with the answers as the fate of this magnificent movie which has been in a hide for almost 15 years. shokof has just brought his manifest and thoughts of Yekishim in form of a most refreshing, and simply magnificent movie onto earth with this film. it is not that the acting of Quinn is not matched not just by him but by no one else in my opinion ever, and that for what he had to go through making the film throughout some extraordinary configurations in the film history, and above all not even getting an Oscar for his performance cause the film did not even get released. it is not that the directing is phenomenal by shokof (his debut) which should have gotten him nominated for the Oscar the least, and : it is not unfortunate that such a unique and doubtlessly the most original story ever told did not get that Oscar it should have and or for the one of a kind Design by shokof and.........none of the above hurts more than the speculation that only due to the political circumstances connected to this film shokof who i believe is by far one of the most extraordinary multi-talented minds of our times did not ever get a chance to continue as one hears more and more often that all his future works have been completely ignored globally?!(this was brought up in a question at the festival,and no one was able to point out to shokof,s other brilliant works) it hurts more to see that such situations still occur in even a most free minded scenes of the world that is supposed to be that of the arts?! seven servants and daryush shokof bring about the notion that there are no limits to the boundaries of the arts no matter where one comes from. he and his works are a landslide away from all Conservative Iranian recent films and much more ahead of even the free world as each oe of his works has introduced a certain dimension of originality of thoughts to mankind for centuries to come. i salute Mr. shokof,s seven events and all his existing record as an artist. a 10 and a lot more to all his courage.

the rating shows 5 but it is just wrong. this movie fits no rating system, and or movie criteria. it is there to stay for another 100000years. timeless, full of ideas, and a most original story ever told in the history of mankind. anthony quinn never looked more at ease. directorial could have not been more onto the dot. cinematography is brilliant. the design opens new perspectives. a movie and a story that made shokof a name to join the list of eternals. shokof belongs to a free world and his films are certainly not restricted to any nation.however, being an Iranian and making films as he does should be a turning point for all those who think arts are restricted to vicinities. wrong. it is not. the true artist creates works of art (and seven servants is one work of art of the highest order) for eternity. this one equals to all those who have been amongst us and have left such works behind. i do hope IMDb corrects the RATINGS on Seven Servants. another 10 from me for this great contribution to the humanity and the arts.