Hatred

Zhaleh is a tough young Iranian woman living in Istanbul. Dressed in biker black with kohl-rimmed eyes, she’s part of a marginal club crowd and determined to emigrate to the West. Hamed is a loose cannon, a crackhead graffiti artist also from Iran, who never bothered to learn Turkish. They meet outside a club, thrown together by their vague mutual need to escape. Soon, a half-baked exit plan is devised. While Zhaleh buys a passport and visa from a store in a crowded bazaar, Hamed robs his uncle’s Persian rug shop. But their plans go awry, and the young people run for it. Then, just when escape seems possible, Zhaleh disappears. The nervous camera chases Hamed through cacophonous bazaars, harbors, and junkyards as he tries desperately to find her. Flashbacks and fantasies haunt him; there are cries and whispers all around. Is life illusory, or is he delusional? HATRED is a vivid example of new Iranian cinema, an intriguingly edgy blend of fiction and reality. (In Farsi and Turkish with subtitles) – B.B.