Underplayed Gems

Guidance Patrol (2012)

Guidance Patrol poster
Original title
گشت ارشاد‎
Directed by
Saeed Soheili
Genre
comedy film
Country
Iran
Runtime
1h 34m
Rating
5.4 of 10 from 18 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

Three poor young men in Iran pretend to be members of the morality police so they can make money. The film makes fun of a real government institution and caused controversy before being banned.

satiricalirreverentplayfulbriskmockingprovocativeunpolished

What happens

Guidance Patrol (Persian: گشت ارشاد; Gasht-e Ershad) is a 2012 Iranian comedy film directed by Saeed Soheili. The movie depicts three urban working poor young men who impersonate crew of a Guidance Patrol (the morality police) to earn money. Dealing with a national issue and mocking the morality police, the movie soon sparked controversy in Iran and eventually was pulled from screens. Ahmad Khatami called it "obscene" and "immoral" in Tehran's friday prayer speech. Ansar-e Hezbollah protested outside the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance building and set a 48-hour deadline for suspending the screening of the movie. Islamic Propagation Organization's Art Center, one of main proprietors of movie theatres in Iran, refused to screen the movie in its all 62 cinemas in order to "observe its duties in the protection of social and ideological values" because the movie "targeted Islamic morality and family decency". Though it was only able to screen in 15 movie theatres, it enjoyed a strong opening and became the box office number-one for Nowruz before getting banned after 31 days. Surpassed by Kolah Ghermezi and Bache Naneh and I Feel Sleepy, it became the third highest-grossing film screened in Iran in 1391 SH. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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