The Hassanlou Chalice (S)

Hassanlou goblet is an illustrated golden cup from first millennium B.C., depicting the life of a rebellious god who fights against a group of allied gods and loses the battle. Before his death, he gives birth to a child out of the sea or a cliff of a rock. In Aslani’s poetic documentary, the mythical narrative carved on this historical object has been paralleled with the story of Hallaj, a mystic martyr from the 10th century. Hallaj was crucified after a fatwa issued by Abbasid caliph, having been convicted of heresy, sentenced to be hung from the gallows and to be slain into pieces. On another level of such narrative identifications, the soundtrack of the film recounts parallel stories from Jesus crucifixion up to the modern world’s tragic events related to the WW II. This is the myth of eternal return of history.