We hear hushed whispers among the crew stating that the movie is inaccurate and that the director doesn’t know what he is doing. We see a sequence where the director tries to ease Shakib in to understand the “mindset” of Hitler so that the scene could be effective. There are hints, jokes, and even a semblance of black comedy, most notably signified by Shakib being screen tested for Adolf Hitler with a hangdog face, unable to discern what is happening, but choosing to go with the flow nonetheless. The expectation of a meta-narrative about the film production or filmmaking of the World War II movie is met judiciously by this film. The fiery inferno of the house also signified the burning embers of the last traces of happiness Shakib had, and what occurs after is a significant unraveling of his character. While returning, tragedy strikes when he sees the red house being blown apart by the film crew as part of a sequence. Shakib manages to procure 20 million dollars from the film producer but tarnishes the goodwill he had built up in the process.
He is unable to escape the wrath of Ladan’s pimp, after being manhandled and beaten and threatened to pay 150 million dollars in remuneration. However, as tidings start relatively looking up for Shakib, his lover Ladan asks for shelter from her pimp, due to which Shakib hides her beneath the foundations of the “Red House”, where he sleeps at night. The producer wants him to help around the production temporarily, which slowly crystallizes into close permanency when he is selected for the role of Adolf Hitler by the director (after a hilarious sequence where the previous actor suffers a heart attack while in character, walking towards the caged prisoners, the prisoners looking at him and wondering whether this is part of the act). Things start to improve when the producer of the movie notices him after Shakib saves him from an accident. It finally dawns on him that he is working in a production of a World War II movie (a badly made and inaccurate one, which the movie doesn’t hesitate to point out). He works and sweats at a construction site when one day he is forced to act as one of the prisoners in a concentration camp. Within the next few years, he strikes up a relationship with Ladan, a deaf and mute sex worker. World War III follows Shakib, a day laborer who lost his wife and child in an earthquake a few years ago and is still wracked with grief. I am inclined to believe that director Houssan Seyyedi played with our expectation of watching a meta film, because “World War III” is decidedly not just about that. That should kindle your interest, especially if your interests align with mine regarding filmmaking dealing with meta-narrative or Russian doll methodologies of storytelling. But as you browse through the synopsis of World War III, you as a viewer are led to believe that you would see a day laborer working on production for a World War II movie while simultaneously sheltering his secret lover. The English title “World War III” is eye-grabbing, without question, with your instincts raring for a movie delving into a fictionalized future war, a science fiction parable to be exact.
Mostly because it excelled at subverting the expectations game that most audiences play. I am still a tad bit dazed after watching Houman Seyyedi’s Jang-Jahani Sevom, AKA World War III.
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