winner55 The protagonist of this film is a member of the Revolutionary Guard. Her mission: to awaken the agrarian people of a desert island to the possibility of voting in a democratic election - women included.This is the same Revolutionary Guard that George Bush and Hillary Clinton want to convince us are nothing more than terrorist puppets. Uh-huh?! The film is slow, but it is easy to watch, partly due to its amazing visuals, panoramic for a non-epic narrative; partly due to it's subtle humor; partly due to the essential humanness of its characters - all brilliantly and professionally acted. Indeed, there is no way to fault the professionalism of the film, and only its leisurely pace may annoy the open-minded viewer.But I started out with the politics involved, because they are important right now. Remember: Bush and Clinton want us to kill these people. If you can watch this film with an open mind and still want to waste them, you don't need a film review, you need psychotherapy - and as much Thorazine as your body can handle.An exquisitely human - and humane - film about humans in Iran.

lafusee I really enjoyed the movie, I found there to be a lot of depth in what would seem at first like a shallow scene. Like the previous commenter said, there is a lot of visually appealing content, and beautifully framed shots. There are a couple of obvious blunders that, although cheapen the acting a little, give it a much more humble, true to life appeal. I am not a big fan of Hollywood though, so it was right up my alley. I also really enjoyed the sort of "all access" peek into what this culture is like, and I actually learned a couple of things. Overall, the movie takes place in what seems like nearly real time (even though that is not possible); really, overall, it spans about 9 hours of a single day. I found the dialog to be a tad bit short (somewhat confusing at times), but most likely its just authentic if anything. Like the summary says, it's a great concept and it's got some great high points, but for many people it might just move too slowly to keep their attention.

tonebone I thought I'd add another comment to the mix of comments made about this film, which is that this film also tackles the issue of Iran's treatment of its Arab minority. This minority lives primarily in a western province called khuzestan (borders w/iraq), and along the western coastline, where the island portrayed in the movie happens to lie.Most of the local inhabitants that the election official meets speak Arabic, some dont even speak Farsi (like the man in Granny Naghoo's compound). Being semitic, they have different physical appearances from the iranians, who are indo-european. And their customs are more similar to the arabs on the arab side of the persian gulf.In addition to making points about democracy and about gender issues, Secret Ballot is also about the distance of Iran's central government from its Arab minority, seeming to be out of touch with their customs, their concerns, and their issues.Incidentally, this theme of how Iran deals with its minorities is also addressed in Baran (Majid Majidi), but in that case it's about Iran's Afghan minority.Congratulations to Babak Payami for a wonderful little gem of a movie.

meitschi I just saw this film on the Vienna film festival and found it one of the most lovable comedies ever. It tells about a female voting agent who comes to the middle of nowhere to collect the votes on election day. There, she is faced with lack of interest from the "citizens" and other unexpected problems. Not to mention a local soldier who doesn't like at all that he has to carry her around by car instead of chasing smugglers... The humor of the film is lovely and attains sometimes satirical and even philosophical depth, regarding the futility and inherent senselessness of the voting agent's work in this environment.A highly watchable and recommendable film, even for those who are not very familiar with Iranian cinema, because the pacing of the story never becomes too slow for European viewers.