Hit the Road review – irrepressible defiance in beautifully composed debut feature
msn.comwho has this month been sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for criticising the Iranian government. It takes the form of a road movie, though that Hollywood term doesn’t really cover Hit the Road, which is part of Iranian cinema’s entirely distinct genre of films shot semi-covertly in a car, and has evolved to avoid Iranian state snooping.
It is a mode of film-making using the interior possibilities of the car, which is both prop, symbol, mobile location and means of transporting cast and crew about without attracting attention during filming.
Abbas Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry and Ten and Jafar Panahi’s Taxi Tehran are other examples. In Hit the Road, a family is making a tense, hot, uncomfortable road trip in a borrowed car through remote north-western Iran, heading apparently for the Turkey/Azerbaijan border.
The elder son (Amin Simiar) is at the wheel, a quiet young guy who says little but often seems in the grip of an intense, suppressed emotion.
Read more on msn.com