‘Terrestrial Verses’: Censorship Up Close and Personal

Iranians face absurd suppression of their rights by bureaucrats.

Mehri (Gohar Kheirandish), an elderly woman desperately hoping to reclaim her beloved little dog, in "Terrestrial Verses." Kimstim

NR | 1h 17m |  Drama | 2024

Arguing with a bureaucrat is usually a fool’s errand. However, arguing with a bureaucrat vested with a small degree of power by a toxic ideology can be a Kafkaesque undertaking. Yet that is what many average Iranians face on a regular basis. Director-screenwriters Alireza Khatami and Ali Asgari focus on nine such Iranians as they try to negotiate with minor, unsympathetic authority figures in “Terrestrial Verses.”