‘Scent Of Wind’: Busan Review

Dir/scr: Hadi Mohaghegh. Iran. 2022. 90mins

Acts of kindness cement the bond of community in Scent Of Wind (Derb), the latest film from Iranian writer/director Hadi Mohaghegh which offers a modern take on the story of the Good Samaritan. The static camera shots and unhurried pace create a gentle, meditative piece in the tradition of Abbas Kiarostami. The simplicity and uplift in the storytelling should attract further festival attention following the showcase of an opening night gala at Busan.

Emphasises how people can be connected by compassion

Mohaghegh won the New Currents Award and Fipresci Prize at Busan with his second feature Immortal (2015); Scent Of Wind, his fourth film, continues an interest in adversity and how it is endured and overcome. It is set initially in Cham-e Ali Mardan, a tiny village in a remote corner of Iran marked by its jagged mountains and lush green valleys. The sound design emphasises the constant rush and rustle of wind in the trees and the twitter of birds on the wing. Mohaghegh and cinematographer Mansour Abd-Rezaei capture a sense of remoteness, and a place where daily life is a struggle to survive the landscape and the elements. A road that once was passable can be swiftly transformed by rain into an unexpected hazard.

We first see a disabled man scratching a living by making medicines from local herbs. He also tends to his son, doing everything for this paralysed boy who lies horizontal, staring constantly into space. The man drags the boy into the sunlight and, later, tenderly washes him. His responsibilities are an act of devotion. We are aware of the sheer effort it takes for the man to travel any distance, squatting close to the ground and shuffling along using whatever strength he has in his weakened limbs. When his electricity supply is cut, he faces an epic journey to find a mobile phone he can use to call the power department.

It’s here that the theme of kindness to strangers slowly begins to develop. One old man has no mobile phone to offer but asks if the disabled man might thread a needle for him. He obliges and sets the tone of a tale in which extending a helping hand to others is ennobling.

Mohaghegh plays the power company engineer Eskandari, who sets out to find a replacement transformer and restore the energy supply. It becomes a task filled with endless obstacles and random encounters. Rather than becoming a source of frustration, these diversions are always seen as a chance to help others. A man asks Eskandari if he will drive him to his date and gather a bunch of roadside flowers along the way. The camera remains fixed on him as he sits in the back seat, a modest smile of anticipation crossing his face. When Eskandari’s truck is stuck in a stream, a man with a tractor comes to his aid.

Throughout, Mohaghegh favours long shots in which the camera rarely moves and the weight of each action is felt. There is no urgency to cut away or inject pace into the storytelling. The traditions of Italian neo-realism and Kiarostami are evident in a film that is contemplative and finds the human drama in the smallest of events. As an actor, Mohaghegh invests Eskandari with a stoical determination to complete his task. He is an unflappable figure who grows heroic in stature as he goes to extraordinary lengths to make things better for the disabled man and his son. 

Less a grand sweeping story than a series of random incidents, Scent Of Wind emphasises how people can be connected by compassion. There is a warming sense of optimism in the way strangers and neighbours instinctively try to help each other and care for those clearly less fortunate than themselves.