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Very best movie i ever watch

Sadly Over-hyped

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The film showcases a brilliant ensemble of Iranian female actors that Panahi utilized to offer to the audience a glimpse of a women's place in the contemporary Iranian society, a pessimistic world-view, the necessity of them having to be accompanied by their respective husbands or guardians in public or the need to have with them a written permission whenever traveling alone, etc. But for the unlucky women who haven't nabbed themselves a husband, nothing could be more disheartening than to see those women act like common thieves scampering at the sight of the religious police, fear of being detained for doing the mundane licit things people do freely and take for granted in the Western world. Some of them inevitably end up falling into the world's oldest profession to support themselves wherein that would definitely be grounds for them to be arrested, pardon the metaphor, and rounded up just like stray dogs for having no masters.The narratives of these Iranian women stumble unto each other. While a certain character's story hasn't sunk in yet with the viewer, in comes another woman's story entangled in yet another wretched situation. Mr. Panahi opted to have the viewer to see the bigger picture rather than see the finer strokes or the more detailed exploration of their lives, going for objectivity rather than going towards overwhelming the viewer with their despair, guns towards level-headedness that perhaps could affect change or persuade, because ultimately, a woman would be more capable in scrutinizing and bringing forth the women's POV in a place like Iran. But unfortunately, if the women that country are unable to be vocal regarding their fate in contemporary Iran because of the restrictions rooted in their culture, it's left to men like Panahi to give voice to that sentiment and document such a scathing commentary.There's a scene where a pregnant woman Pari is making a telephone call and was approached by a pair of soldiers asking her for help, a bit of sardonic humor from Mr. Panahi. Impeccable. My rating: A-minus.

Artistic seen, it's a peculiar work of art: the movie doesn't stick to one character, but it rather unfolds the story through few characters that embody the one main figure on which the movie concentrates, namely, the woman or the fate of the woman in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The life span or the "circle" of the woman in Iran opens with her cursed fate of having been born as a woman, continues to her mature life in subjugating patriarchal society, being subjugated to the whims of her "masculine owner", and lastly closes with her being incarcerated for not gratifying her husband.The movie is so designed that only in retrospect it is fully comprehended - only by looking backward on the entire seen movie, it can be fully understood.Jafar Pahani has paid heavily for his uncompromising artistic work and courageous critique of the tyrannic regime - he was judged last year for 6 years in jail. After his release, he will never be allowed to leave Iran and to direct movies.

I have seen several Iranian films in the past few weeks thanks to a short season of the films screened in the UK by Channel 4 – a channel that can rise above the level of reality television when it puts its mind to it. Having seen them in a compact space of time, I had quickly gotten it in my head that many of those screened had come to international attention and various degrees of acclaim because they were "issue" films that looked at some aspect of Iranian life with at least a semi-critical eye. However none of them came close to the sort of anger with the system that was evident throughout this film.The plot sees several stories that weave around one another to produce a film that looks at several women, all of whom are suffering in some way or other due to the general treatment of women in Iran. As a dramatic device it doesn't totally work because too little time is spent with each character to really get to know them or get into their stories and situations, but this struck me as being the film's second aim – with the first quite clearly being the injustice with which women are treated. As such, the narrative never really engaged me in terms of the people in the story, but the general picture painted was interesting enough to hold my attention and make me care for the characters generally, even if I would struggle to put names to faces.The actresses are all pretty good and most come off pretty natural and convincing, with only the odd moment here and there not really working. They all strike a rather tragic note with each of them trying to make out the best they can in life but really oppressed in so many ways – whether it is small things like not easily moving in the streets by themselves or being rejected by their families to save honour. The direction is good, with different styles used for some of the characters – but done in a subtle way to the point where I didn't notice until somebody pointed it out to me.Overall this is a good film but not a brilliant one mainly because the narrative comes secondary to the criticism of the system. However it is worth seeing mainly because, without really ranting, it holds a lot of anger at the status of Iranian women and their treatment and the injustice within the system – it may not be balanced but it is interesting and engaging.

I saw that movie in Toronto and, at the time, I had in mind a few other movies from Iran that I really enjoyed: Gabbeh, A Time for Drunken Horses and Children of Heaven. You could say that I had big expectations for The Circle.I must admit that halfway through The Circle, I wasn't too pleased. So many characters, what's the link between them, and other questions. Then, I saw the light! We don't need to see what happen with the first characters that we get to know in the movie. We know what is happening to them. We know that they're stuck in a society where they're next to nothing. It's somekind of a circle for those women, never mind what they seem to try, it always come down to the same situation for them.The movie is informative since it shows us the situation of women in the Iranian society. In the last few years, we have seen some opening from the Iranian government of Khatami. Hopefully, the situation of women will get better, even though there's a lot of resistance from the Islam and the men.The acting in this one, like in other movies from Iran, is excellent. The actors are no superstars and they play their role naturally. The beautiful Fereshteh Sadr Orfani is excellent in the role of the four month pregnant women who's wishing for an abortion since she's not married.The camera work in this one is also good even if it sometimes make you a little dizzy. Just like Scorcese in a few scene of Goodfellas or in The Blair Witch Project, the camera is always in movement. We feel like we're part of the action.A film to open the eyes.7 out of 10.