Backed by the inspirational voices of his cinematic heroes such as Asghar Farhadi, Abbas Kiarostami and Dariush Mehrjui, Iranian Canadian writer-director Amir Zargara bravely takes the action into the squared circle with his heart-wrenching socio-political slugfest that bares the hearts and minds of a young generation at odds with a government threatening to snuff out their freedom. The work is partly inspired by the tragic true story of Navid Sangari, a wrestler who was wrongfully sentenced to death during the 2018 Iranian protests.
The picture begins with bricklayer Arash (Sia Alipour) laying the foundations of a simple everyday man who enjoys recreational wrestling after his nine-to-five. But as his fame grows, the Olympic hopeful suddenly realises he has the platform to criticise the system that constantly rejects the needs of his people. When a heartfelt tribute to his fallen sister (a victim of a political rally) and involvement in political rallies spark the attention of the regime, his life suddenly spirals into chaos and uncertainty.
Dedicated to the late Navid Sangari, Amir Zargara’s passion project aimed to shed light on the late wrestler’s unbelievable resilience. As a result, the brutality of his situation was played out to full unflinching rawness with Sia Alipour’s soulful and moving performance. Zargara tiptoes into the controversial source material carefully, utilising a slow-burning pace and gloomy colours that make the journey both anxious and claustrophobic, the tension palpable and a genuine reflection of life under the regime.
In one particularly affecting scene, set in tense darkness, Arash is captured and thrown into a cell, and all we hear is his captor’s stark voice: “I want him to beg like a dog.” Zargara tactfully employs increasingly bleak colors and greyish-desaturated lighting, leading to a film that is a hard but essential watch.
With all the escalating tension and conflicts globally shown in the media, films like these offer a much-needed and accessible look at two sides of the coin of how human lives are affected once the dust has settled. Hidden under the gloss of romanticized headlines and exploitative fear-mongering, lies very real stories of humanity that are only just getting the theatrical treatment. It is exciting to see where Zargara dares take us with his courageous filmmaking which the director felt was like mandatory military service- a duty he had to uphold and show to the world.
“A Good Day Will Come” is a testament then, to how short films can bridge the gap between an audience and a world kept behind closed doors. Unrelenting and poignant, it was recently greenlighted for qualification at the upcoming 97th Academy Awards, another pressing reminder of how films like this are needed more than ever, to educate the masses and spread the word. Only with strength in the collective minds of many, will a call to action be brought to light. And maybe the dawn of a good day envisioned by Navid and many others will finally arrive.
