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As Hippocrates often said, “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” In Amir Zargara’s dramatic short story, essentialA mother must make a desperate decision to save her child’s life.
Fereshte (Mathav Servati) cleans up blood and leftover food from an Iranian slaughterhouse in exchange for a piece of meat. That’s barely enough to feed herself, her son and daughter, who require expensive medical treatment to survive.
Fereshteh fights in tears on the streets of Vital at night.
“…a mother must make a desperate decision to save her child’s life.”
Iran is the only country in the world where selling kidneys is legal, and Fereshteh contacts his friend’s brother, Dariush (Reza Akhlaghirad), who connects him with buyers around the world willing to pay. In this case, Shaheen (Hossein Soleimani) is an American doctor whose daughter needs a kidney. Fereshteh is a perfect match.
The power of film is that rather than debating hypotheses about ethical issues, we can watch them play out. In this beautifully crafted morality play that can feel like a purely transactional exchange, Zargara portrays his characters’ inner struggles through subtle acting and body language. Zargara never pauses in the scene where the issue is discussed. What we are showing is that finding answers is not easy and should never be taken lightly.
For screening information, please visit: essential Official website.