Gholam
2014, 94 minutes
British-Iranian feature film starring Shahab Hosseini
Set in present day London, Gholam is an enigmatic Iranian cab driver, who works at night and is not comfortable discussing his past. He has two jobs, yet seems to not be interested in the money. He eats at his uncle’s café every day, yet is fully aware of being betrayed by him. He agrees to the arrangement his mother makes for his return to Iran, yet has no intention of going back. We learn that he was once a war hero, and yet disappeared from the battlefield without a trace. A man with no past, no future, no ‘convictions’, he still gets involved in the conflict of a total stranger and pursues it until the end.