Petr Lom had some unbelievable access into the lives of Iranians in this film. It is so rare to watch a film about people in a foreign Muslim country that seems genuine, but this one sure does. Lom had a film permit from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad himself. There is only one man more important in Iran, or so says the bouncer at the front gate of the mosque, the Ayattolah Khomeini, as it was his mosque they were trying to enter with their cameras. Ah, ok, I’m gonna say that I don’t think we should be disrespecting Muslim religious spaces. Seriously. Thank goodness the filmmaker backs off and we cut to another scene. I hope that is how it went in real life.

The most moving scene for me was between two women who were waiting to have a face-to-face meeting with Ahmadinejad, and as they sit and chat, the camera and mic are on. They move from adoration of Ahmadinejad, to their lives, which include having to save for 3 weeks to buy strawberries for her daughter and having to pay $17 for a hunk of meat for family dinner. The women held their scarves up to their faces either to hide themselves or unconsciously, I’m not sure which, but they didn’t seem to know there was a camera on them. I felt the pain of their poverty. Beautiful work by Lom in letting that moment happen.

The overall structure is around Ahmadinejad’s practice of receiving and answering letters written to the President. It’s rather mind boggling whilst sitting in our own “We Live in Public” way at SXSW in Austin, TX. How can people possibly believe that the president of a country is going to care what you need? Well, about 10 million or so letters, emails and texts have been received and logged, and about 76% have been answered. If anyone is wondering why the people of Iran stand behind this man, this movie will clear it up.

Not that this is an easy situation to deal with, as our country is self-destructing in most distressing ways. Many countries around the world are feeling immense pressure under the weight of America and her corporations and financial experts. We are the 800 pound gorilla in the room, or at least at the top of the burden on large percentages of people throughout the world. I still can’t figure out how our politicians can’t figure out that poverty in the world right now can be attributed to corrupt governments and the US. Anyways, I guess that is a rant we can have in person.

Less we get too self-indulgently guilty, Lom also checks in with the social elites and students of Iran. With their smart hairdos (and one with a recent nose job, even) and make-up, Lom assures us that there are plenty of bourgeois Iranians. They don’t give a shit about politics because they have enough money to live in peace within the country. Maybe that is a larger percentage, but it takes up less of Letters to the President, so the film leads me to believe that isn’t so. These kids seem to be ok with everything except the morality police. Yeah, it is such a drag when you can’t have sex and do drugs. My heart goes out to ya.

This is a must-see movie if you are at all interested in what is going on in the world today. I hope that Obama will watch it immediately. One more screening at SXSW on Saturday.