Cinema
In the Name of God
Bismillah
Abbas Mirza Sharifzadeh · 1925
Synopsis
Before the revolution, in a village in Azerbaijan, Gulu, a poor peasant of unshakeable Shiite faith, has for years been stripped of his property and his work by a greedy mullah. One day he attends a clandestine meeting organised by his brother, an oil worker, and by his brother's friend Jafar, and doubt takes hold of him. He confides in the mullah, who draws the names of the participants from his confession: a wave of arrests sweeps over the village, and the peasant himself is imprisoned.
Context
The screenplay is by Pavel Bliakhine. Announced in April 1925 after the interruption of a first shoot the year before, the film was entrusted to Şərifzadə and completed in the studio that the Baku state factory opened on 1 June 1925; silent, fifty-seven minutes long, it was planned for the month of Muharram and was released on 17 November. Mustafa Mərdanov plays the role of Jafar, alongside Mirzəağa Əliyev and Mohsun Sanani. Shown in Moscow in October, it was judged by one critic to be more authentic than Western films on Oriental subjects, and Sovkino ordered twelve prints. After the director's execution, his name was erased from his films.
Who it is for
Silent, fifty-seven minutes; an anti-religious propaganda film, conceived as such, and played by Azerbaijani actors.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as a major success of the nascent Azerbaijani cinema, and the first feature film of its director.