Review: Desert Dancer

Afshin Ghaffarian (Reece Ritchie) is a citizen of Iran and a dancer. His passion for dance is a dangerous one as dancing has been forbidden in Iran since the 1979 revolution. Desert Dancer is based on his life story, and it is an inspirational and rousing film.

As a young boy, Afshin fell in love with dance but performing in front of his classmates leads to his hands being struck by his teacher. His mother explains that the morality police forbid dancing but enrolls him in the Saba Arts Center, described by its owner Mehdi (Makram Khoury) as "a world behind closed doors where they are free from the rules, commandments and sins" of the outside world. The outside world intrudes soon enough and the haven is left broken and destroyed, though Mehdi encourages Afshin to nurture his love of dance.

Flash forward to 2009 - political unrest is in the air with the presidential elections around the corner. Afshin has just started university where be befriends, among others, Ardi (Tom Cullen) and Mehran (Bamshad Abedi-Amin) who introduce him to an underground club where his dancing is noticed by fellow student Elaheh (Freida Pinto). Afshin, inspired by the dance clips he watches on YouTube, encourages his friends to form a secret dance group. "I want us to take control of our lives," he exhorts, "have somewhere that's ours where we can create."

Using an abandoned printing factory as their dance space, the friends revel in their freedom and Afshin finds romance in the form of Elaheh, whose audition enraptures him and the rest of the group. Personal and political turmoil percolate, however, as Afshin discovers Elaheh's heroin addiction and Mehran's older brother tries to ferret out the dissidents in the student community. A public performance, even outside the city in the desert, could put all their lives in danger but Afshin wants to make a statement. Besides, "why dance if no one can see us?"

Beautifully told, Desert Dancer features three mesmerising dance sequences that fully convey the power and expression of dance. Neither Ritchie nor Pinto are professional dancers - both underwent months of intensive training - but the quality of their movement is first-rate. Ritchie's climactic performance on a Parisian theater stage emotes the harrowing ordeals his character and many others have undergone to have the freedoms denied by their country.

Well and truly a poignant and enriching film.

Desert Dancer

Directed by: Richard Raymond

Written by: Jon Croker; based on the life of Afshin Ghaffarian

Starring: Reece Ritchie, Freida Pinto, Tom Cullen, Bamshad Abedi-Amin, Marama Corlett, Simon Kassianides, Makram Khoury