Fire Keeper (Atashkar)

Year: 2009
Country: IRAN
Run Time: 82 minutes

Although Sohrab is celebrating the birth of his fourth daughter, he desperately wants to have a son, especially because he is a man of certain prominence in town, heading the fire keeper division at the local steel mill. In fact, many of his compatriots there have sons, so why not him? Sohrab appeals to his wife for yet another chance but she is done with childbirth and instead urges him to have a vasectomy, and has banned him from their bedroom until he does so. Sohrab is highly conflicted about this drastic act and unmanly action. He seeks out the local mullah in attempts to make his decision easier, asks his doctor what he would do, and pleads with just about anyone who will listen to him, all to no avail. And it doesn't help that the mullah has influence at the steel mill where the personal and professional have collided. Finally, a decision is made and the doctor has something extraordinary to share with him. Divided into the chapters of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, part fable/part Greek comedy, FIRE KEEPER tackles the complex internal turmoil of one man's struggle with his fertility and manhood. (In Farsi with subtitles) – C.C.P.

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