A Hero

The Iranian drama is a tightly wound affair about a disgraced man who performs a good deed and receives both praise and ire for his selfless act.

I had a hard time watching “A Hero,” the new film from Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (“A Separation”), and I don’t mean that because it’s a bad movie.

The emotions of the piece are so raw and excruciating that at times you just want to look away for a bit. It’s the sort of movie about the unfairness of life, but also the ways in which we unconsciously perpetuate our own misfortune.