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Nassim Abdi plays a young ballot collector. Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

The Power of Democracy

Iranian ’Secret Ballot’ mixes romance and electoral politic

By Justin Lowe
Special to AsianWeek

Revealing the contrasts between traditional, theocratic Iranian society and emerging democratic values, Secret Ballot is a sweet, low-key comedy that gradually segues into a gentle love story between two mismatched characters. Like Majid Majidi’s Baran, released earlier this year, Secret Ballot provides an engrossing and entertaining perspective on contemporary Iranian social issues.

On a stark desert island, two terminally bored soldiers guard the coast against smugglers and are left with little to do when the crooks fail to appear, until a passing military plane parachutes a wooden crate into their encampment. Opening it up, they discover a cardboard ballot box — it’s election day. Before long a motorboat drops the polling official at the shoreline — a young woman (Nassim Abdi) wearing a head-to-toe black chador and carrying a bag full of blank ballots.

Determined to collect every vote on the island by the 5 p.m. deadline, she recruits one of the soldiers (Cyrus Ab) as her escort. Disgruntled with being removed from his post, the soldier’s displeasure is heightened by his inability to accept that the male ballot-taker he’s been expecting is instead this idealistic woman. The soldier remains steadfastly unimpressed by the smart-talking city girl and doesn’t want to help her, but he has orders to assist the “election official” — regardless of gender — and reluctantly retrieves his rifle and beat-up jeep as they set out on their rounds.

Director Babak Payami.

“Everyone must vote,” she declares, with a resolve that becomes the driving force of the day. When a paternalistic man transporting a truck full of women expects to cast votes for all his charges, the election agent explains the principal of one person, one vote. She instructs the mostly illiterate women in the basic points of democracy, even though they are hesitant to participate without their husbands’ permission.

Similar encounters with a diversity of islanders follow as the woman and the soldier race against the ballot deadline. In one amusing scene, they practically capsize an incredibly small boat rowing out across the waves to gather votes from fishermen, then argue with an old man who insists on voting for Allah, claiming “God is my candidate” (although his name does not appear on the ballot) and reason unsuccessfully with a matriarchal farmer that she should support elections and politicians.

As the polling official’s faith in the electoral process is challenged by the often unenthusiastic, pragmatic islanders, she begins to realize that there may still be places in Iran where democracy remains ineffective, particularly when tradition dominates rural society. At the same time, the soldier discovers a newfound admiration for the virtues of voting, and with it, a growing interest in this unfamiliar woman with contemporary values who has rearranged his closed-minded world.

These romantic developments are handled with the utmost discretion and without any physical contact, as the pair bond by carrying out their official duties and their conversation shifts from confrontation to banter and eventually some discreet flirting. In their opposing roles, nonprofessionals Ab and Abdi display a naturalistic, understated enthusiasm for their characters that charms without condescending.

Director Babak Payami, who also wrote the script, based the story on a short film by Iranian auteur Moshen Makhmalbaf and extends the original idea to often absurdist lengths as the woman and the soldier travel around the island chasing down votes. But Payami keeps the satire tightly buttoned down, and it’s never quite clear whether he’s skewering the Iranian democratic process or celebrating it.

Payami won the award for best director with Secret Ballot at the 2001 Venice International Film Festival, and his style is equally accomplished as his script. His carefully framed compositions and stationary camera seem to challenge the bleak desert landscape on the Persian Gulf island of Kish to overwhelm the characters and action, but Payami maintains skillful control throughout the film. Whether election satire or celebration, Secret Ballot delights with its realistic style, fine performances and perceptive script.

Secret Ballot, in subtitled Farsi, is rated G and opens in Bay Area theaters Aug. 23.

Reach Justin Lowe at nextwavve@yahoo.com.