It's the most characteristic WWII film I've ever seen, despite its undeniable flaws.
In the film, I noticed two big moves about the description of human values, which is why I want to write this review.
One, there was a real Persian in the camp. The screenwriter did a good job here. The Nazi soldier said that the man was from England and could not speak a word of German. He said he was of Persian descent. In fact, he did not explain whether the man could speak Persian (of course, there is a high probability that he would). After hearing this, the two brothers took the safest way. After all, there cannot be a single mistake here.
Here I have to mention the values of the brothers who murdered the Persian and the brother sacrificed the plot. My first thought was whether it was worth sacrificing two lives (one of which was involuntary) in order to save the male protagonist (let's call Reza) alone?
When I use numbers to compare human lives, when I'm speaking out against the Persians, I'm missing the film's most important theme: to live.
The elder brother murdered and pleaded guilty in order to keep Reza alive, and then to keep his younger brother alive. Reza made up "Persian" and lived in terror every day to keep himself alive. Nazi officer Koch worked hard to learn Persian, in order to cover up the identity of the Nazis after the defeat, in order to survive.
Second, the Nazi officer Koch took his "teacher" Reza with him when he ran away. Koch's mind is not on war at all, and what he wants is a life away from war. Koch is irascible, he considers himself kind, and runs away with Reza, who may influence his actions, but he turns a blind eye to the slaughter of Jews by his companions. He said that he hated being lied to the most, and in fact he did, but throughout the film he was trying to deceive customs in Tehran. He is fulfilling only his flawed goodness, following only his principles with exceptions.
This is a very real person, with love and hate, good and evil.
At the end of the film, maybe you also forgot that the real name of the Jew named Reza is Giles.
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