‘A Hero’ is Iranian filmmaker Farhadi’s ‘morality play’

Above : Iranian actor Amir Jadidi stars in Asghar Farhadi’s film “A Hero,” which opens Friday at the Magic Lantern. (Photo/Amazon Studios)

Despite having started his career in the late ’90s, Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi first attracted international attention in 2011 with his film “A Separation.”

That film, by the way, won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Though nominated, too, for Best Original Screenplay Award, Farhadi, the film’s writer-director, would lose out to Woody Allen (for “Midnight in Paris”).

Since then, Farhadi has directed four other movies: “The Past,” “The Salesman,” “Everybody Knows” and, most recently, “A Hero” – which has caused the normally apolitical filmmaker to comment on Iran’s repressive government.

“A Hero” tells the story of a man (played by Amir Jadidi) who has been sent to prison for his inability to pay a debt. Granted a two-day leave, he attempts to convince the man to whom he owes money to withdraw the complaint.

The film, which opens Friday at the Magic Lantern Theatre , is making a number of Best Films of 2021 lists. And critical consensus about it is overwhelmingly positive (as of this writing, it scores a 93 percent Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes).

Glenn Kenny of RogerEbert.com wrote, “A chilling demonstration of how, as the song says, money changes everything.”

The Hollywood Reporter’s Deborah Young wrote, “A very fine film about honesty, honor and the price of freedom.”

And Dave Calhoun of Time Out wrote, “A superb morality play that immerses us deeply in a society’s values and rituals and keeps us guessing right to its powerful final shot.”

If ever there were a filmmaker who would tempt me back into a theater, it’s Farhadi. Then again, as with most movies these days, I just might have to wait for it to begin streaming.

Maybe I’ll let the weather decide. Lots of snow expected today.