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Day Break - Dame Sobh (2005) Directed by: Hamid Rahmanian Writing credits: Hamid Rahmanian, Mehran Kashani Music: David Bergeaud Country: Iran Language: Farsi Color: Color Runtime: 84 minutes Released: 2005 Genre: Drama |
In Iran, capital punishment is carried out according to Islamic law, which gives the family of the victim ownership of the offender’s life. Day Break - based on a compilation of true stories and shot inside Tehran's century-old prison - revolves around the imminent execution of Mansour, a man found guilty of murder. 
When the family of the victim repeatedly fails to show up on the appointed day, Mansour’s execution is postponed again and again. Stuck inside the purgatory of his own mind, he waits as time passes on without him, caught between life and death, retribution and forgiveness.
Principal Cast: Hossein Yari, Zabi Afshar, Atash Taghipour, Maryam Amirjallali, Hoda Nasseh
Director's View:
When I started working on the story for this film in 2002, the thing that I was most attracted to was not necessarily the character of Mansour and who he was or where he came from but rather the situation that he found himself in. I wanted to make the story communicate universally to the audience. I wanted them to relate to Mansour’s dilemma. Not everyone has committed murder but we have all made wrong choices, choices that perhaps were rash and passionate, propelling us into situations that we could not have imagined and for which we have not control over.
It was important that I convey the passage of time and the physical space that Mansour was trapped in while waiting for his execution day to arrive. The psychological intensity of not knowing his fate dragged him through each and every moment of that experience with minute detail. It is the details of Mansour’s day-to-day experiences that propel the story along. The struggle inside his mind to come to terms with what he has done and how he has affected his family are ubiquitously experienced by the audience. It is this commonly understood situation that brings out the universality of the story makes the film imminently imperative for everyone.
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A powerful work of existentialism, Day Break will touch anyone who has ever made the wrong choices in life and been forced to deal with the consequences. At the centre of this harrowing feature debut by Iranian director Hamid Rahmanian is Mansour (Hossein Yari), a convicted murderer sentenced to death. In Iran, capital punishment for certain crimes gives the victim's family enormous control over the life of the perpetrator; they may pardon the offender, seek financial compensation or pursue a public execution. If they choose this final, ultimate retribution, they must meet with the convict before the punishment can take place. 
Compiled from true stories and shot inside a century-old Tehran prison, Day Break shows Mansour trapped in his own inner purgatory as his victim's family repeatedly misses and delays this crucial encounter. Are they torturing him intentionally? Will they administer a last-minute pardon or will the death sentence be carried out? If so, when?
Rahmanian creates an incredibly effective sense of the physical and psychic space that confines Mansour, where each passing moment reminds him that his fate hangs in the balance. Observing the day-to-day details of his life in prison waiting for his final meeting, we can easily imagine his caged, anxious isolation and sympathize with him regardless of the severity of his crime. We are plunged into Mansour's fraught soul as he struggles with the realization of what he has done and what faces him in the future. The anguished Day Break is not just about a death penalty case or Islamic law but about human suffering.
Rahmanian is a fascinating young director who trained in the United States in the field of computer animation before directing several acclaimed documentaries. In this, his first feature, his mastery at eliciting viewer engagement and empathy, his keen sensitivity for his protagonist's struggle and, above all, his urgency, are bold hallmarks of a precociously mature artistic vision.
- Dimitri Eipides
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