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Taha and Raman are devout muslims, so much so that Taha even gets fired
from his job at the university for his strong beliefs and has to make a
living as a taxi driver in the process. The two of them are so convinced
about their faith that they are involved in terrorist attacks (mainly
throwing Molotov cocktails) against whom they consider non-believers. Then
though, Raman asks Taha to execute Ahou, a known prostitute living in
their neighbourhood, and Taha already has her on the other side of his
gun, when she tells him her tale of woe, that involves a father in an
asylum and a brother, Houman, she has to care for (their mother is dead),
and by executing her, Taha would also ruin the lives of these two
innocents. Now Taha discovers another side to his faith, compassion, and
from now on he vows to care for Ahou, even if she wants to have nothing
more to do with him (initially), and the gangster who has her under his
protection (and has made her his concubine) shields her from him, with
only reasonable success.
Other than Taha though, Raman still wants her out of the way,
and blows up whatever place she's staying at (without ever hitting her or
her brother), so in her desperation, Ahou finally turns to Taha, who hooks
her up with an aunt of his for abode. But even there, Raman and his men find her,
and destroy her brother's face in an acid attack. Furthermore, auntie's
husband finds out about Ahou's bad reputation and throws her out, and
ultimately she finds herself in the street without abode for the night and
is arrested by the police in the process. Taha tries everything to raise
the money for the bail, but eventually finds out he's too late, her
gangster boyfriend/protector has already gotten her out. He follows her to
his place, hears a shot, and finds out she has shot him dead. As a final
act of compassion (and love, actually) he forces her to give him the
weapon and sends her away, acting as her willing fall guy ... For
Western eyes, this film is of course little more than a hooker with a
heart of gold-story that might if at all raise a few eyebrows in the
USA's bible belt, but nothing more. But given the vastly different moral
standards of Iran, this is a small revolution, a film that actually puts
the moral standards of a prostitute above that of the devout (yet bigot)
Muslim. All this says little about the film's quality in itself
though - and I have to admit, Salvation at 8:20 is actually less
than great - don't get me wrong, it's not a bad movie, but it's full of
clichés and almost devoid of original plottwists, and the line between
good and evil - even if it's drawn along new lines concerning Persian
cinema - is too clearly drawn to really convince. Again, not a bad film,
but also nothing you really need to see.
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find Salvation at 8:20 at adultvideouniverse.com
