Secret Ballot

Starring:Nassim Abdi, Cyrus Abidi, Youssef Habashi, Farrokh Shojaii, Gholbahar Janghali
Director: Babak Payami
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

This gentle, low-key comedy follows a female civil servant of an Islamic country (presumably Iran, but specifics aren't given) as she travels around a sparsely populated island, trying to get the inhabitants to vote on election day. Her efforts are both helped and hindered by the reluctant soldier who has been assigned to accompany her--but far more significant hurdles are language barriers, deep-seated gender prejudices, and mechanical breakdowns. The civil servant struggles to maintain her faith in democratic processes in the face of indifference, antagonism, and absurdity. When someone tells her, "Voting doesn't catch fish," she has no reply, yet perseveres in her attempt to make the world better. Secret Ballot is slow-paced, but the movie's rhythms suit the world it depicts. Nassim Abdi, as the civil servant, gives a wonderfully engaging performance; her innocent, open face captures both the humor and the sadness in her struggle. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

something really different.......2007-05-26

This story seems very American. An election in which no one seems to care. The fascinating thing to me is how like Joseph and Mary the two protagonists seem to be. Instead of wandering around Bethlehem in search of a room, the woman in her ancient customary garb and her protective soldier wander around a very Biblical landscape in search of votes. Anyone who thinks Iran is part of some hyped up axis of evil needs to see this movie. We are the same in as many ways as we are different.

If You Harbor Questions about "Participatory Democracy", You Just May Be a Fan of this Movie!!!.......2005-10-14

Watch for this on IFC!! Or buy a copy.... I just watched this on IFC, and I couldn't take my eyes or ears off this subtle little gem...

If you harbor serious doubts about "participatory democracy" in all its forms, you'll be amused and stimulated by this modest but highly entertaining little film!!

Subtly Brilliant Dramatic Comedy.......2004-12-17

Billed as a comedy but actually just as much, or more, a drama, something I usually find wrecks movies I got expecting to be a comedy, diluting the humorous parts to the point of impotence and failing to work well on a dramatic level. However, this one of the rare 'dramedies' that hits its mark full on. "Secret Ballot" is an Iranian-made movie about the fledgling Iranian democracy emerging (the film, incidentally, was made before this year's democratic setbacks with the summary disqualifacations of most reform-minded candidates), with a female elections official (wonderfully played by Nassim Abdi) making the rounds with a mobile ballot box to collect votes from residents in a remote region of the Iranian coast and its nearby islands, with Cyrus Abidi as the soldier grudgingly compelled to drive her on her rounds. The humor is light but rich, the drama elements subtle but highly effective, and both raise up some issues without being politically overbearing. The terrain is beautiful and majestic, captured perfectly by the unique cinematography/editing style that uses a number of long, real-time shots with very few cutaways. When a little boat heads out to the larger fishing vessel a few hundred feet offshore it's done in real-time; you can see people getting on and off the smaller boat, faintly seeing them moving around on the the big boat, before the little boat begins to return to shore in the same shot. It might sound tedious but it's not, it just lets you experience the atmosphere and the ocean waves perfectly. The election worker is bright and full of optimism, either oblivious to the distrust of the the system she's working for or utterly refusing to be brought down by it, so steadfast is she in her belief that she's helping everybody move together towards a better future. It's the Middle Eastern Amelie! The soldier at first appears to be the portrait of sullen apathy, but very quickly it shows through that this is an intelligent individual, bogged down in quiet frustration of a life and a system that haven't worked out the way he would have liked. A large number of other interesting characters come and go for varying lengths of time, and it's up to the viewer to determine if there's also a subtle but powerful romantic angle here too.

This is the first Iranian movie I've ever seen, and it's left me wanting to sample more, from different genres too, as well as movies from some other countries in the Middle East, both the Arabic countries and Israel. Very, very refreshing to see the Middle East in a vein other than what you see on the news, which seems to be just real-life violence and tragedy, while the rest gets ignored. A recommended buy.

Not for Everyone.......2004-11-29

I borrowed this movie from a friend and it was pretty good. But this movie is definately NOT for everyone.

First off, it's not like a typical American movie. Nobody gets blown up, nobody gets bloodied up, no special effects or computer generation. But I watch a lot of movies, especially foreign films, so I had no problem watching this.

Also, this is an Iranian movie so you need to take in the consideration of the role that woman play. That will definately help you to understand the movie better.

The movie moves very slow, as I'm sure a few reviewers have probabally said already. But anyway, heres my summary of the movie:

A soldier (Cyrus Abidi) has to escort a person sent from the government to collect ballots form the people of an island off thr coast of Iran. This ballot-collector just happens to be a woman (Nassim Abdi) and the soldier is not to happy about this. He makes comments like "They told me an agent was coming, not a woman" amongst some other sexist things. But thats how life is.

So they go around the island and try to collect peoples ballots and get back to the base to get picked up at 5. A lot of people don't want to vote and when they do vote, the candidates they want to vote for aren't on the aproved ballot. So you can imagine what kinds of things result.

All in all, this movie was funny, but not everyone gets the humor. My freind watched this movie as well and thought it a movie with no point. So I suggest you rent this movie or borrow it from a freind if possible before you actually buy it.

A day on a desert isle.......2004-08-30

The tranquility of a desert dawn is rudely interrupted by aircraft engines. A parachuted box varies the mundane task of two soldiers watching for smugglers. With the arrival of a boat dispatching a young woman on the beach, nothing will ever be the same. Democracy has arrived on an Iranian island - wearing a chador and sturdy walking shoes.

Few films have started in as low a key as this one. Fewer still have built a story of such intense human realism from such a gentle beginning. The soldier, shocked at the arrival of a woman as the Election Officer, is reluctant to be commandeered as her escort. She has the power of The Law on her side, however. They must tour the island, collecting votes, and return to camp to meet the boat at 5:00 o'clock - "You're ordered to escort me".

The ensuing day is marked by clashes of personality, background, role and purpose. The soldier's job is to catch law-breakers. That covers just about anyone whose behaviour he can't immediately comprehend. A man running across the sands is a voter to one and a fleeing criminal to the other. Which is he? That he votes doesn't settle the question. Voters come in all shapes, sizes, dress - and attitudes - "even smugglers can vote", she says. A group of women voters are delivered in a giant dump truck - but they speak a dialect the Election Officer doesn't know. Although the slate is ten "approved candidates" [approved by who?], one man bypasses them to vote for his own favourite. Others don't want to take the time - "voting doesn't catch fish".

The Election Officer has her own answers to these complaints. With an enthusiasm a Britannica salesman would envy, she sells democracy to the island's residents. And a few others. She rises to every objection: "If you vote, you can plan your life better". Illiterate voters who can't read the names are encouraged to "vote for the photographs". Her intensity is palpable - would there were more like her here! At the end, there is only one vote left to obtain. The scene resolves the entire film while resolving nothing. There should be a sequel, but it will never be filmed.

Payami's film is almost indescribable in its stark beauty. The purity of the desert provides an excellent background to the intense human story. There are many levels to cope with as you watch it unfold. These are people distrustful of what they can't grasp, control or understand. An election has remote meaning to a culture unused to its vagaries. They are far from ignornant, but they are an isolated community. Payami offers no issues, parties, ambitions either distant nor local in the election. Survival, the daily struggle on the island, is the key. Payami highlights the protagonists when needed, but sets them against the changing background as the Election Officer and the Soldier tour the island. The foreground changes, also, as the Officer and Soldier work out their roles. Highly recommended. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

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