The Warden (film)

The Warden is a 2019 Iranian mystery drama film directed and written by Nima Javidi. It stars Navid Mohammadzadeh and Parinaz Izadyar. Set in 1967 in Iran, Mohammadzadeh plays Major Nemat Jahed, the warden of a prison, who is being evacuated for expansion whilst one of the prisoners is missing.

This film was screened for the first time in the 37th Fajr Film Festival, and by being nominated in 8 categories of this festival, Crystal Simorgh has been awarded a special prize by the jury. Massoud Farasati in his television show Seven considered this film as the best work of the festival.

Plot
In 1967, an old prison in the south is to be evacuated due to its proximity to the city's developing airport. Major Nemat Jahed, the prison warden, has the inmates transferred to another facility while the major himself and his men are scheduled to leave the prison by evening. Colonel Modaber, who is superior to Jahed, visits him in prison and announces that Jahed has been promoted and is going to be his own successor. Jahed, happy to hear the news, receives a phone call informing him that one of the prisoners, Ahmed, nicknamed the Indian, was not with the other prisoners. Subsequent investigations assure Jahed that Ahmed is still in prison and hiding somewhere. At the same time Susan Karimi, who works for the social service assisting the prisoners, comes to see Jahed and tells him that Ahmed's sentence has been changed suspiciously from imprisonment to death. Jahed, who sees his promotion in jeopardy, searches the entire prison with his troops to find the prisoner. In addition he is falling in love with Susan but feels pressured by everyone: the workers, already there to demolish the prison, Ahmed's wife, who wants her husband to live, Susan, who believes in Ahmed's innocence and has clearly tried to help him, and himself, knowing that an escape in his prison whould ruin his life, something he is determined to avoid by doing everything in his power to make Ahmed reappear.

Soundtrack
The film's score is composed by Ramin Kousha, who is also the pianist. It was released on July 5, 2019.
 * 1) Last Day in Jail
 * 2) Countdown
 * 3) Time to Leave This Place
 * 4) Ultimatum
 * 5) Pieces from the Whole
 * 6) Looking Everywhere for Him
 * 7) Gas Attack
 * 8) Aftermath
 * 9) Losing Consciousness
 * 10) Dead End
 * 11) We Know Everything Now
 * 12) Suspicion
 * 13) Light & Darkness
 * 14) Circles
 * 15) One More Time
 * 16) Free Him

Release
The Warden was screened for the first time, on Friday, February 1, 2019, in the Simorgh Soda section of the 37th Fajr International Film Festival, and was released in cinemas across the country on June 5, 2019. The Warden is now the fourth best-selling non-comedy film in the history of Iranian cinema.