My Sweet Pepper Land

Synopsis: Saddam Hussein has fallen and Baran (Korkmaz Arslan), a Kurdish war hero, flees the capital and his interfering mother to a far-flung border town that intersects Kurdistan, Iran and Turkey and is also a mecca for illegal trafficking of every kind. Taking on the role of law-abiding sheriff, Baran bangs heads with local kingpin Aziz Aga (Tarik Akreyi) and his henchmen. He also meets Govend (Golshifteh Farahani) a schoolteacher who, with 12 brothers at home waiting for her to fail, has something to prove.

In My Sweet Pepper Land director Hiner Saleem employs all the conventions of a typical western. A morally sound hero rides into a one-bar-town on horseback. His attempts, aided by his loyal sidekick,to bring law and order to the region end in a bloody showdown. Only this isn’t just any town. And it isn’t just any old last frontier. It’s a far-flung outpost in a rarely-viewed-on-screen modern Kurdistan.

To see My Sweet Pepper Land solely as genre homage undervalues its heart and soul. This is not just a film about the good sheriff ousting the baddies. Saleem threads subplots through the narrative about women striving for independence, which serve as a canvas upon which he can thrash out conflicting views on the place of women in modern, post-Saddam Kurdistani society.

Aziz Agais, the equivalent to the Western’s overbearing cattle baron, is vehemently opposed to local schoolteacher, Govend, because, as a young, single female in a powerful position as mentor to adoring students, she is a threat to the patriarchal order. When Baran shelters Govend from Aga’s menacing henchmen he is not only a force of opposition to the Aga’s trafficking and lawlessness, but also to the ideology which sustains his bully-boy tactics. Baran further enrages Aga by aiding a group of all-female Turkish freedom fighters lurking in the hills outside the town to procure medicine for a fallen comrade. Aga’s retaliation, directed at the women rather than Baran, is swift and bloody. Ultimately though, it is the women who have the last laugh.

The film belongs to its radiant lead actress, Golshifteh Farahani, who embodies the hopes and desires of young women in today’s Kurdistan. The chemistry between Govend and Baran builds slowly throughout the narrative. When they finally get together we quietly cheer them on in the knowledge that with Baran Govend will live the autonomous life she desires.

My Sweet Pepper Land is not a game-changer. Rather it’s a sultry stroll set against the backdrop of dramatic landscapes and an eclectic soundtrack, from Elvis Presley to the melodic tones of a steel drum played by Farahani.

 

 

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