Secret Ballot

This provocative but sluggish satire of the Iranian (and possibly our own) democratic process takes place on Election Day. A ballot box is dropped by parachute near an army outpost on a desolate Iranian island that is manned by two soldiers. One lethargic, gun-toting man of uniform (Cyrus Abidi) is assigned to escort an election agent (Nassim Abdi) around the island, to chase down voters (quite literally in one case) and enforce all applicable laws and procedures. The sex of the official (“We were expecting an agent, not a female”) and her contact with local women provide a flash point for rampant sexism as our idealistic, by-the-book heroine wrestles with a variety of issues, such as the listing of God as a candidate. The camera lingers way too long in some scenes and has trouble focusing on anything of inherent interest in others. The film was written and directed by Babak Payami.