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Critical Zone

Orginal title: Mantagheye Bohrani / Iran 2023 / Drama / 99 minutes / Director: Ali Ahmadzadeh / Suitable for 16 years and over
  • »Ali Ahmadzadeh provokes the Iranian authorities with his award-winning feature film “Critical Zone”.«

    Abendzeitung, Arne Bänsch

  • »Critical Zone is a hallucinatory road movie.«

    artechock, Rüdiger Suchsland

  • »From its very first images through a city tunnel, this oppressive portrait of society takes a deep breath to keep us in suspense. Photographed in a visionary way and accompanied by a bittersweet score, it is a sensational film.«

    Berliner Zeitung

  • »Ahmadzadeh finds apt images to depict the feeling of hopelessness among the Iranian population.«

    Choices, Marina Wudy

  • »The melancholy film shows the aimlessness of its protagonists in the oppressed Iranian society in which they are drowning and thus subversively criticizes the regime responsible for this.«

    Chrismon

  • »A dark, hypnotic journey into the heart of a society that only reveals itself at night.«

    cinema.de

  • »Albeit in a dazed way, falling somewhere between road movie, performance and lysergic trip, Critical Zone opens a window onto a reality jealously kept under wraps. We’re introduced to the genuine adventures experienced by Amir, but the film also branches off.«

    Cineuropa, Giorgia del Don

  • »An art film that transcends boundaries and makes the soul of a society tangible through its melancholy mood.«

    Der Farang

  • »A cinematic diary that brings together the oppression and anger of the people.«

    Deutschlandfunk Kultur Studio 9, Patrick Wellinski

  • “A manifesto of the freedom and resilience of the Iranian people.”

    Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Patrick Wellinski

  • »A drug dealer as savior«

    Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Susanne Burg

  • »An intimate insight into a world that so often remains hidden.«

    Die Rheinpfalz

  • »Meditative and thrilling.«

    epd Film, Dietmar Kanthak

  • »The message of the film is clear: there is something bubbling under the surface, the anger of the desperate will one day make its way to the surface. Ali Ahmadzadeh believes in this rebellion and makes it unmistakably clear with “Critical Zone”.«

    Evangelische Zeitung, Christian Horn

  • »Together with the adventurous story of its creation, Critical Zone is a work that is made for storms of enthusiasm in the arts pages.«

    film-rezensionen.de, Oliver Armknecht

  • »The film, which is partly staged with hidden cameras, gains a high degree of authenticity through its raw, imaginative aesthetic and flashes a new urgency with its blatant criticism and radical breaking of taboos.«

    Filmdienst

  • »The film, which is banned in Iran, is not easily accessible, but has an even more lasting effect.«

    Filmtoast, Andreas Krasselt

  • »Sounds play a decisive role in “Critical Zone” – the film is not least an acoustic work of art with a soundtrack that measures everything from melancholy voices to almost inhuman screams.«

    Frankfurter Allgemeine, Bert Rebhandl

  • »Rarely has the word “underground film” been more true.«

    Frankfurter Rundschau, Daniel Kothenschulte

  • »“Critical Zone” doesn't need many words to tell an incredible amount. On the one hand, this is of course impressive, but on the other hand, it gives the film even more of its oppressive power.«

    Frizz Aschaffenburg, Jens Trierweiler

  • »A subversive trip.«

    Hollywood Reporter, Jordan Mintzer

  • »A film about resistance in hopeless times that captures the spirit of a young Iranian generation and becomes an expression of protest itself.«

    In München

  • »When night falls in Tehran: Ali Ahmadzadeh's pleasantly ambiguous film.«

    Junge Welt, Holger Römers

  • »A tonal masterpiece.«

    kino-zeit.de, Niklas Michels

  • »In his film, director Ahmadzadeh repeatedly alternates between quiet melancholy and feverish intoxication, reflecting on life outside of social norms.«

    Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger

  • »“Critical Zone” is a big “Fuck You” directed at the Iranian regime.«

    Münchner Feuilleton, Klaus Kalchschmid

  • »Up-and-coming director Ali Ahmadzadeh provokes the strict authorities with his latest film and creates his very own work.«

    Münstersche Zeitung

  • »The Iranian film “Critical Zone” cries out in every frame for freedom, liberation - and its anger at the oppressive conditions.«

    nd aktuell, Nicolai Hagedorn

  • »Critical Zone shows fascinating meditative images in which Amir stands in front of light projections or strolls along them.«

    Perlentaucher, Alice Fischer

  • »The film sends out an optimistic signal. Rebellion will not be suppressed in the long run, change seems inevitable - that is the message this extraordinary film wants to convey.«

    Programmkino.de, Gaby Sikorski

  • »Ali Ahmadzadeh's work can be seen in a context that goes beyond the purely cinematic.«

    Radio Lippe

  • »With his independent aesthetic, the director joins the Iranian filmmaking scene, which courageously explores Tehran's underground culture.«

    Radio Ramasuri

  • »A very courageous film that not only tells a story, but rebels.«

    Seriasten

  • »Director Ali Ahmadzadeh tells an incredible amount with just a few words.«

    Stadt Nürnberg

  • »With its equally hypnotic and unleashed style, which mixes realistic and allegorical elements, “Critical Zone” occupies an independent position within recent Iranian cinema.«

    stadtrevue, Esther Buss

  • »An art film that transcends boundaries and makes the soul of a society tangible through its melancholy mood.«

    stern.de

  • »In “Critical Zone”, director Ali Ahmadzadeh traces the attitude to life of a lost generation that can only endure their own country if they are drugged up.«

    SWR Kultur, Julia Haungs

  • »Tehran has never been seen like this before.«

    Süddeutsche Zeitung, Anke Sterneborg

  • »What a wild, pitch-black, yet illuminating road movie: shot in secret, “Critical Zone” is one of those Iranian films that bluntly tells of the present-day hell of a generation without a future.«

    Tagesspiegel

  • »“Critical Zone” is not only the best film currently showing in cinemas, it is one of the best that has been and will be shown on German screens this year.”«

    taz, Fabian Tietke

  • »Magnificent Iranian cinema«

    Telepolis, Rüdiger Suchsland

  • »Iranian filmmaker Ali Ahmadzadeh's secretly shot underground film reflects the lack of prospects of an oppressed society in hypnotic images.«

    TV Today

  • »The innovative mixture of drama, description of the current situation and political protest combines the documentary gesture of the film with a tendency towards magical realism and surreal sequences in which the dreams and utopias of the characters appear.«

    Vatican News

  • »A piece of underground cinema...Absolutely exceptional.«

    WDR 5 Scala