MY SWEET PEPPER LAND

France, Germany, Iraq, 2014, 100 minutes, Colour.
Korkmaz Azlan, Golshifteh Farahani.
Directed by Hiner Saleem.

Some of us might have flown over Kurdistan, the remote area at the borders of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, a mountainous region that has been the location for a number of Ukrainian films. But, most of us have never been to the area. This film offers us an opportunity to venture into this remote region, encounter the people who live there, people of a very different culture and many traditions that are being challenged in the contemporary world.

The director was born in 1965 in Iraqui Kurdistan.

Pepperland is actually the name of the local bar, a venue mainly for the men of the village where the film is set. It plays its part in the confrontations we are invited to watch.

The film opens rather sardonically with a prisoner being asked to invoke the help of Allah. Next, we are in an open courtyard with a military man addressing a small tribunal of a lawyer, a judge, a mullah and a former soldier. They are told that it is 2006, that they are free from Saddam Hussein, that they need to set up institutions, develop a police force as well as a military force. And the symbol of this reconstruction is the use of the death penalty. The pretensions of this meeting are undermined when the accused is put on a large cask and strung up – only for the cask to topple and for him to fall. There is continued discussion about whether the law and the Koran have indications how he should die.

But this is the story of the former soldier who wants to return home. The soldier‘s mother has other ideas and wants him to be married – so he reapplies to work in the police force, agreeing to go to the remote village where he is met on the highway by his deputy and they have to ride by horse to the village because the bridge has not been rebuilt. They encounter young woman the audience has already been introduced to, a teacher who has several brothers, the older of whom disapproves completely of her work, though she has the trust of her father. The two policemen have to let her dismount before they reach the village – appearances in terms of suspicious relationships are the subject of gossip and disapproval.

The film also introduces us to the local warlord, upholding the traditions of centuries, especially in strict sexual moral expectations – but has not a hesitation or scruple in using violence to control, to get rid of opposition, and to protect trade in selling medicines which are past their used by date.

Of course, this offers many opportunities for conflict, and the film takes them up with vigour. The new policeman is a strong-minded character and stands up to the warlord, something which the visiting judge is too afraid to do. He also gets medicine for a group of rebel women who hide out in the mountains, a reminder of the anti-Saddam Hussein era. And, he supports the local teacher who is suffering all the prejudices of anti-women stances of the warlord and the men, eventually being confronted by a delegation of her brothers who are ashamed of her and who are listening to gossip about herself and the policeman.

This might make the film sound melodramatic, and in some ways it is. But it is a solid drama exploring the character of the policeman and the demands made on him, on the young woman and her sense of vocation as well as her stances on being a woman in this kind of anti-women society.

Not essential viewing, but audiences who do go to see it will not be disappointed, will find it an interesting introduction to an unfamiliar part of the world as well as remnants of bias and prejudices, especially about women, that need to be confronted.


1. A film from Kurdistan? Audience knowledge of the country, the people? The borders of Iraq, Turkey, Iran? Past history? Post 2003 and the defeat of Saddam Hussein? A region in political and social order or not? The need for institutions? Police, army? The struggle with the warlords?

2. The location photography, austere, mountains, desert, the towns? Rugged beauty?

3. The musical score, the local instruments? Songs, the classics, Elvis Presley?

4. A serious film but with touches of black humour? Life on a frontier – and echoes of the American West?

5. The introduction, the accused, being urged to pray to Allah, the speech in the courtyard, the panel of the judge, the mullah, the businessman and the former soldier? The speech about order in the new country? The farce of the condemnation, the attempted hanging, the criminal falling, pleading? The argument for reasons to finish the execution? Capital punishment as important in the new order?

6. Baran, as a fighter since the age of 15? His not wanting to join the police? Keeping his gun? Going home, the Elvis Presley song? Meeting his another, the affluent home, the garden? His work? His mother’s control, lining up candidates for marriage? His deciding to get away?

7. Accepting the new village post, the isolation, on the borders, travelling and finding the bridge down, his deputy with the horse? Meeting Golvend, giving her a ride, her dismounting because of appearances and the possibilities of gossip? The police station, in repair? The generator? The rooms?

8. Golvend, seeing her with her family, her father and the interrogation, the number of brothers, the oldest and his severity? The father giving her his trust? Her travel, walking, wanting to teach, the excitement of the job? Meeting Baran, going to the inn, there being no room, spending the night at the police station? Potential for scandal?

9. Aziz, sending the invitation to dinner, Baran and his accepting the invitation for lunch, his wanting to keep control? The atmosphere of hostility? The role of the warlord, explanation of traditions, his henchmen doing his will, even killing? Issues of morality and honour? Violence acceptable, but traditions against women? Being against the teacher? the gossip of accusations?

10. Baran and his work, pursuing Aziz’s henchmen, the arrest? The trial, the judge, freeing the prisoner? Baran saying shame on him? Baran as a man of no compromise?

11. The women in the hills, from the days of Saddam Hussein and hostilities? Wanting the medicine, Baran helping? His getting the medicine and giving it to them?

12. The women in the hills, Aziz and his men shooting them, the death of the leader, the women wanting revenge, coming to the house, shooting Aziz and his men? Baran, coming to the house, further shootings, the confrontation with Aziz and shooting him?

13. Golvend, the teaching, the children, the parents taking them away? The supervisor, his hostility, his betraying her to Aziz? Her brothers coming, their interrogating her, issues of honour? Her going out into the desert? Hearing Baran call her name? The return? Baran and the sexual encounter?

14. Some optimism in the film, love, issues of honour and challenge, the role of women in this area in the 21st century? Possibilities for change?