Critical Zone is the sensational film that won the Golden Leopard at Locarno despite the Iranian government banning its director from leaving the country and attempting to cancel its screening. The film not only features a woman who removes her hijab but also includes scenes in which she uses drugs and curses the world. It denounces, provokes, and protests Iran’s reality. The protagonist is a solitary drug dealer who lives with a bulldog. He sells drugs on the streets of Tehran, but it would be a mistake to consider him a villain. When he pleads with a woman who appears to be his lover, he resembles a child; when he feeds a drug-laced chocolate cake to elderly patients in the hospital, he resembles a saint. And the actions of the stewardess in his car surpass the level one couldn’t dare imagine, given Iran’s reality. The meticulously designed music, sounds, and cinematography are also noteworthy. (NAM Dong-chul)