As the saying often credited to Hippocrates goes, “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” In Amir Zargara‘s dramatic short, Vital, a mother must make a desperate decision to save her child’s life.
In exchange for mere scraps of meat, Fereshteh (Mahtab Servati) mops up the blood and leftovers at an Iranian slaughterhouse. That’s barely enough to feed herself, her son, and her daughter, who needs expensive medical treatment to stay alive.
Fereshteh fights back tears on a city street at night in Vital.
“…a mother is forced to make a desperate decision to save her child’s life.”
Iran is the only country in the world where selling a kidney is legal, and Fereshteh contacts a friend’s brother, Dariush (Reza Akhlaghirad), who connects her with buyers worldwide willing to pay. In this case, Shaheen (Hossein Soleimani) is a doctor in the U.S. whose daughter needs a kidney. Fereshteh is a perfect match.
The power of film is that, rather than debating the hypotheticals of an ethical issue, we get to watch them play out. In what could feel like a purely transactional exchange, Zargara draws out his characters’ inner struggles through subtle acting and body language in this beautifully crafted morality play. Zargara never stops for a scene where the issue is debated. What we’re shown is that finding an answer is not easy and should never be taken lightly.
For screening information, visit the Vital official website.
"…the only country in the world where selling a kidney is legal..."
