Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

2freensel I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

noralee "Secret Ballot (Raye makhfi)" should be required viewing in every class in the country that deals with civics, government, and social studies (it wouldn't hurt the kids to read the subtitles). And it wouldn't hurt for policy makers who mouth off about allies while ignoring lack of democracy to see this too. The story is simple -- an idealistic government agent is sent to get as many votes as possible by 5 pm on a desert island (I didn't even know Iran has such islands, let alone that they are populated.) The agent is accompanied by a resentful, cynical soldier. On this unique road trip of a scavenger hunt they each are changed in subtle ways by each other and the wide variety of characters they meet up with who deal with their first exposure to them, to voting and to a secret ballot in a variety of complex ways that are beyond American experiences.The movie vividly demonstrates the physical,logistical, psychological, political and social challenges of bringing some semblance of democracy to other cultures, let alone to the Mideast. While the amateur actors keep this from having an emotional Hollywood satisfaction so it feels more like a docudrama/comedy, their reality (including the obvious censorship restrictions) brings it all home anyway. (originally written 9/2/2002)

lafusee I really enjoyed the movie, I found there to be a lot of depth in what would seem at first like a shallow scene. Like the previous commenter said, there is a lot of visually appealing content, and beautifully framed shots. There are a couple of obvious blunders that, although cheapen the acting a little, give it a much more humble, true to life appeal. I am not a big fan of Hollywood though, so it was right up my alley. I also really enjoyed the sort of "all access" peek into what this culture is like, and I actually learned a couple of things. Overall, the movie takes place in what seems like nearly real time (even though that is not possible); really, overall, it spans about 9 hours of a single day. I found the dialog to be a tad bit short (somewhat confusing at times), but most likely its just authentic if anything. Like the summary says, it's a great concept and it's got some great high points, but for many people it might just move too slowly to keep their attention.

rhorton3 After sitting through this film, I have to wonder if the many accolades and awards this movie has received are a case of the Emperor's New Clothes; i.e., it's Iranian, so it must be good no matter what it really looks like. The film plods along at an agonizingly slow pace. Many shots are several minutes in length with little movement. But instead of making a point, these scenes just feel as if the Director was trying to find a way to stretch out the film. (The filmaker's equivalent of using 14 point font on a term paper.) At one point a scene with significance for future scenes is shot from such a distance that the people are mere specks and you are left spending the next ten minutes trying to figure the major plot hole this long distance scene just created.Nearly all the scenes amount to obvious, and vaguely preachy metaphors about the importance of voting. Instead of letting a scene speak for itself, the woman vote collector has to make some preachy statement every time. Even more grating, the soldier accompanying the vote collector speaks ever single line in a monotone as if he is reading his lines off a cue card. This film is billed as a comedy, yet there is nothing remotely funny in the 100 minutes of the film.Perhaps much of the humor and nuances of language are lost in a poor translation from Farsi. However, after seeing and being highly impressed by "Kandahar", I tend to think this is just not a good film.Save your money and 100 minutes of your life for something more worthwhile than this film.

meitschi I just saw this film on the Vienna film festival and found it one of the most lovable comedies ever. It tells about a female voting agent who comes to the middle of nowhere to collect the votes on election day. There, she is faced with lack of interest from the "citizens" and other unexpected problems. Not to mention a local soldier who doesn't like at all that he has to carry her around by car instead of chasing smugglers... The humor of the film is lovely and attains sometimes satirical and even philosophical depth, regarding the futility and inherent senselessness of the voting agent's work in this environment.A highly watchable and recommendable film, even for those who are not very familiar with Iranian cinema, because the pacing of the story never becomes too slow for European viewers.