A woman, hell-bent on avenging her sister’s murder, takes 50 men and women from her family on a bus trip to another town for them all to take an oath in front of a judge declaring her brother-in-law as the murderer. But the road has so many twists and turns.
"One of those curious tales that suddenly sheds light on the darker corners of Iranian society, Mohsen Tanabandeh’s The Oath plunges the viewer into the drama of a feudal judicial system. It starts with the premise of an eye for an eye (the hanging of a murderer) and then introduces the age-old custom of the victim’s family accepting a pay-off in blood money that would let the killer get off scot-free.
Alternatively, if the family lets up pressure on the judge, the murderer may never stand trial at all. Though the story never really takes a definite moral stand one way or the other, it has enough drama and vivid characters to find festival favor."
Screening with: After Class