there are some bits in here that soured things for me: while making the father an avatar for the iranian state might make for a neat metaphor, it means he’s not a character in his own right, which blunts the messaging in a way that some western audiences will lap up. for the same reason, it’s also grating to see islam aligned only with darker forces, positioned against everything the women stand for as it is so often portrayed. (curiously, the…

i’m so used to having to parse my faith thru christianity-centred cinema like that of scorsese and malick that i can forgive any niggling pacing frustrations in a film like ‘animalia’, which offers a rare direct cinematic channel thru which to contemplate islam. i found this spiritually stimulating — it confronts believers with some of the more mysterious elements of the Qur’an, ones we in the west might not often think about: strange beings, animals doing the bidding of a higher power,…