Serious Issue, Comic Approach

Babak Payami’s delightful “Secret Ballot” is another fine Iranian film centering on a character determined to carry out a task against all odds that reveals much about present-day Iran within the confines of government censorship. What’s more, Payami, inspired by a short made by renowned director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, manages to make social commentary amid much humor. Indeed, “Secret Ballot” might be described as a serious comedy and is a work of effectively minimalist style.

On the desert island of Kish in the Persian Gulf, a large crate is dropped by parachute onto a barren stretch of beach where two soldiers spell each other guarding the coastline against smugglers. Payami proves a master of the long-held shot right at the start. What is in this crate, which one soldier laboriously hauls to the side of a tent serving as a garage for a jeep? Here the long-held shot evokes absurdist humor; later, it will evoke pathos.

The guard wakes up his comrade (Cyrus Abidi), who is asleep on a cot in the open air, hands him his rifle and takes his place on the bed. Abidi’s soldier is a big, rangy, granite-jawed guy who speaks Farsi with a Turkish accent.

He stands by the crate impatiently, and finally a young woman (Nassim Abdi) in a chador arrives in a small boat propelled by an outboard motor. Abdi is a government official charged with collecting votes from the island’s few and far-flung inhabitants. Inside the crate is a cardboard ballot box and a supply of ballots, listing 10 presidential candidates. Each citizen is to vote for two.

Right off, the soldier refuses to cooperate because he cannot believe an election official could be a woman until she points out that his orders do not specify the official’s gender. She has only until 5:30 p.m., when the boat returns to pick her up, to do her job and it’s already 8:30 a.m. If she misses the boat, all the ballots become invalid.

As the two take off in the Jeep, they’ve already established a prickly relationship reminiscent of Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart in “The African Queen” (1951).

The woman is a dedicated idealist who asserts that nothing is impossible, while the soldier is a gruff type convinced her arrival has ruined his day.

As they drive around, the girl gives the soldier a civics lesson, stressing the importance of voting if society is to change and improve.

Not surprisingly, most of the candidates are unfamiliar to the island’s inhabitants, but she assures them that they all are aware of the challenges and problems facing the islanders.

Clearly, it is more imperative to the girl that everyone possible must vote to get this democratic process up and running. With the proper identification, everyone 16 and older has the right to vote in secret.

Along the way, the girl and the soldier come across a wide cross-section of people of varying ethnicities. It’s constantly uphill for her. People tend to be scared off by the armed soldier; a nomadic group of women do not feel they should vote without their permission of their husbands, most likely away fishing.

Another group does not speak Farsi. An old man who has rigged up a solar energy station insists he could only vote for God. Some women from another island are upset that one of their number who is married and already pregnant at the age of 12 is held too young to vote yet not too young to be married off by her family.

This election day activity, in short, reveals much about Iran, including the plight of illegal immigrants as well as the oppressiveness of arranged marriages.

By the end of the day, the soldier is a changed man. By humoring the girl in going to often absurd and sometimes futile lengths to get every vote possible, he has learned to respect her steadfast endeavor and understand its importance. He has also become decidedly attracted to the girl, who is very pretty, but custom dictates that he must keep his feelings to himself.

Abdi and Abidi are flawless, at once amusing, touching and attractive.

Like everyone else in the cast they are nonprofessionals who were not given the script in advance by Payami.

“Secret Ballot,” which has a rich, spare score by Michael Galasso that blends Eastern and Western motifs, is funny, provocative, well-paced and leaves a memorable bittersweet aftertaste.

*

MPAA rating: G. Times guidelines: suitable for all ages.

‘Secret Ballot’

Nassim Abdi...Girl

Cyrus Abidi...Soldier

A Sony Pictures Classics release of a Fabrica Cinema/Payam Films/SharmShir production, in association with RAI Cinema/RTSI (Switzerland). Writer-director Babak Payami. Based on an idea in Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s short film “Testing Democracy.” Producers Marco Muller, Payami. Executive producer Hooshangh Payami. Cinematographer Farzad Jodat. Editor Babak Karimi. Music Michael Galasso. In Farsi, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.

At selected theaters.