The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024) review

In theocratic Iran, Iman (Missagh Zareh) is promoted to the "secret" position of investigative judge and given a handgun for self-protection, which makes his wife Najmeh (Soheila Golestani) extremely anxious, so when protests break out all over the city of Tehran and his two daughters Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Maleki) become politically engaged - due to a friend, Sadaf (Niousha Akhshi), being blinded in a skirmish - and then his weapon goes missing, he accuses his own family of betraying him.  The backstory of the movie - which involved filming in secrecy, Rasoulof getting sentenced to years in prison and having to escape to Europe - renders this a vital historical document, but the real social media footage of actual citizens trying to enact change and finding themselves pummeled and killed is considerably more compelling than the film's narrative, which is needlessly belabored and a bit flat, with Najmeh assigned the task of being an annoying mother who defends tyrannical practices.  But where it really becomes perplexing is when the pistol vanishes and Iman not only has his spouse and children interrogated by a colleague but then proceeds to lock them up ... and then it turns out one of them actually did steal it: if the initial intent was to show respect for females, this reveal contradicts that completely, as it reinforces the misogynistic belief that women are liars and thieves and that men are right to be suspicious of them.