Shah-re ziba (The Beautiful City) (2004)
Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 9
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 6.9/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 450
My Rating
Movie Info
A complex web of emotional and legal issues is being spun around a young man on death row in this drama from Iran. Akbar (Hossein Farzi-Zadeh) murdered his girlfriend when he was 16 years old; now that he's 18, he's being transferred from a facility for juvenile offenders to an adult prison, where he'll wait until his death sentence is carried out. However, no one is sure when that will be, because Akbar's father is required to pay "blood money" to Rahmati (Faramarz Gharibian), the father of the
May 13, 2004 Wide
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All Critics (9) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (8) | Rotten (1)
[A] melancholy drama about the aftermath of a senseless murder.
Top CriticWell acted and smartly written, the film is an eye-opening sociological portrait that also manages to be a compelling human drama.
Here's another deeply resonant little movie from Iran, featuring more polished (yet still naturalistic) acting than usually seen in U.S. productions.
It's a penetrating exploration of retribution versus forgiveness, blood money, sacrifice and the intricacies of Iran's Islamic judicial system.
Fascinating glimpse into wholly different body of laws, engrossingly evolving script and standout perfs, including Taraneh Alidoosti's ... make City more accessible to arthouse auds than more stylistically challenging Farsi fare.
Cross-pollinate an archetypal plotline with problematic romance and what you get is Beautiful City, a film in which the world is made immediate and kinetic.
While touching on subjects as serious and diverse as capital punishment, the devaluation of women in Iran and the true Islamic concept of forgiveness, this powerful melodrama from the Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi is anything but a message movie.
Persistence is everything in Asghar Farhadi's visually undistinguished but affecting Beautiful City, a simple film about the power of forgiveness.
Audience Reviews for Shah-re ziba (The Beautiful City)
Super Reviewer
Thank you my friend for this good movie recommendation, most movies of Iran showed till now, not to be disappointed.
Super Reviewer
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Foreign Titles
- Beautiful City (Shah-re ziba) (DE)
- Beautiful City (Shah-re ziba) (UK)
[font=Century Gothic][/font]
[font=Century Gothic]"Beautiful City" is a very effectively told tale, not only about how women are treated in Iran but universal themes including forgiveness, vengeance and the death penalty. My only complaint about the movie is that it does tend to get confusing in the second half when different offers are made. Plus, it was a little hard at times trying to understand the labyrinthine Iranian judicial system. [/font]