Venice 2022

World War III review – black comedy of anarchy and social responsibility

Film sets are made into fascistic breeding grounds for chaos in Iranian filmmaker Houman Seyedi’s bleakly funny meta-movie

Maybe Timothèe Chalamet was right. The Bones and All star raised eyebrows when he told journalists in Venice this month that “societal collapse is in the air.” Chalamet might’ve just come out of Houman Seyedi’s drama World War III, which took home the best film and best actor awards in the festival’s Orrizonti sidebar section.

Seyedi’s film is about a penniless labourer who lost his wife and child in a deadly earthquake, and finds himself accidentally cast as Hitler in a shoddy, schlocky World War II movie shot in the countryside. Hired at first to help build sets for just 300,000 tomans (£6) a day, Shakib (Mohsen Tanabandeh) is picked out of a crowd and ordered to play the Führer. With a little makeup and some subject grooming choices, he isn’t bad at it.

Seyedi takes a black comedy premise and injects bleakness in abundance. At a time when, to put it delicately, on-set safety measures are receiving renewed attention, Shakib is forced to navigate outright danger on the slapdash production. More important, still, are the questions World War III asks about the social responsibility of filmmakers. If Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Camera Buff explored the moral extremities a home video obsessive will go to — tellingly, perhaps, Josh Safdie has a Camera Buff poster above his bed — World War III probes the impact of directors’ oft-fetishised uncaring attitude on those in front of the camera. When Shakib’s partner Ladan (Mahsa Hejazi) visits the set and hopes to stay with him, the unexpected movie star must make adjustments to his own careful narrative. Soon enough, questions of personal safety arise once again.

It’s no surprise Seyedi quotes scholar of fascism Hannah Arendt in his press notes. In Origins of Totalitarianism, Arendt posited that fascist societies, in chasing total control, ultimately breed anarchy. The same might be said for a film set. Hokey Hitler as Shakib’s star-making turn is not just a springboard for how kitsch the filmmaking process can be (think Kate Winslet in Extras). It’s a handy metaphor for the greater-good sentiment so common on rushed, cash-strapped productions. When the relentless pursuit of order causes acts of savagery on Shakib’s film, he must forge his own, suitably anarchic response.

Tanabandeh, one of Iran’s best-known character actors, anchors Seyedi’s suitably unpredictable film with a formidable performance in the lead role (you might recognise him as moneylender Bahram in Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero, a recent highlight in Iranian cinema). In a movie that demands a grounded, relatable central performance to sell the sheer chaos around him, Tanabandeh more than delivers. It helps that Seyedi, World War III’s director, producer and co-writer, seems to know exactly what he wants to say. The message may not be a happy one, but death and destruction can make for a great story.

World War III was screened as part of the Venice Film Festival 2022. A UK release date is yet to be announced.

Where to watch

More Reviews...

The Innocent review – 60s-inspired heist movie with an existential twist

In his fourth feature film, writer-director Louis Garrel explores with wit and tenderness the risk and worth of second chances

Baato review – Nepal’s past and future collide in an immersive, fraught documentary

A mountain trek intertwines with a road-building project, granting incisive, if underpowered, insight into a much underseen world

The Beanie Bubble review – a grim new low for the “corporate biopic” genre

With none of the saving graces of Tetris, Air, or Barbie, this ambition-free look at the Beanie Baby craze is pure mediocrity

Everybody Loves Jeanne review – thoroughly modern fable of grief, romantic confusion, and climate anxiety

Celine Deveaux's French-Portuguese debut can be too quirky for its own good, but a fantastically written lead character keeps it afloat

Features

Repertory Rundown: What to Watch in London This Week, From Little Women to Sergio Leone

From classics to cult favourites, our team highlight some of the best one-off screenings and re-releases showing this week in the capital

Repertory Rundown: What to Watch in London This Week, From Coppola to Cross of Iron

From classics to cult favourites, our team highlight some of the best one-off screenings and re-releases showing this week in the capital

20 Best Films of 2023 (So Far)

With the year at the halfway point, our writers choose their favourite films, from daring documentaries to box office bombs

Repertory Rundown: What to Watch in London This Week, From Mistress America to The Man Who Wasn’t There

From classics to cult favourites, our team highlight some of the best one-off screenings and re-releases showing this week in the capital