Achilles
(Digital) Ashil

The Plaza Mayor Company Ltd label presents the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to the movie Achilles (Ashil). The music is composed by Mehrdad Jafari Raad

The Plaza Mayor Company Ltd label presents the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to the movie Achilles (Ashil). The music is composed by Mehrdad Jafari Raad

The soundtrack is available to download on all digital music services

Achilles (Ashil) is directed by Farhad Delaram with Mirsaeed Molavain, Behdokt Valian

Two fugitives in contemporary Iran encounter citizens across the country, all wounded by the same corrupt government and all united in their willingness to help the pair survive.

« In composing the score for 'Achilles,' I collaborated with a dear friend, Farhad Delaram, who like me, had experienced the weight of a repressive regime, much like the characters in the film.
Our shared generational connection led us to explore our personal struggles and suffering through our art, against the backdrop of a period of profound change in Iran. »

« My approach as a composer was to get into the minds of the characters and find perfect tones to inject a degree of emotion in each scene, while merging the sound with the cinematography and performances.
Throughout the score, aside from the end title music, a recurring musical motif subtly shifts in form. However, at its core, we can discern monolithic reverberations that gradually unfold, maintaining a continuous ascent, yet never fully breaking free from its burden. »

Mehrdad Jafari Raad - Composer

Director’s Statement (on the music) :

« Mehrdad Jafari Raad's contribution to 'Achilles' marks our third collaborative effort, and with each project, our creative partnership deepens.
His musical composition is a subtle yet significant presence. The music is a slow and burdened presence, which mirrors the weight of the characters' struggles and the complex backdrop of Iran during that period.
However, even in the darkest depths, there is a pulse, an unyielding beat that strives to live and continue.
This pulse represents a force that seeks to break through the walls of oppression, offering a glimmer of hope and resilience. »

Farhad Delaram - Director

Director’s Statement (on the movie) :

« November 2019, one month before I started writing Achilles, marks the bloody crackdown of protests in Iran. The series of unrests was not the first but the most widespread ones since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
People stayed in the streets, families lost a member each day, but did not cringe since there seemed to be a shared pain. Meanwhile, it became evident that the government had adopted a new method to deal with political prisoners: punitive psychiatry.
Even one of these prisoners, Behnam Mahjoubi perished in the hospital.
On the personal level, although I was on track of success after years of passion for cinema, I felt disheartened about the role of cinema in society.
Most of the artists were lagging behind and acted as mere observers of the plight. This led me to create the two main characters in Achilles: A young filmmaker disappointed to follow his craft and a political prisoner labeled by the government as “mentally ill”. Achilles tells the story of Farid, now working the night shift at a hospital, meeting Hedieh, who thinks the walls talk to her.
By running away with Hedieh, Farid rediscovers the hope to make a change and picks up his camera again.
On their getaway journey, they meet people in different parts of Iran, all wounded by the same corrupt government and dictator, now united to bail Hedieh and Farid out.
I wrote Achilles because I am intimately familiar with the concept of the wall. I spent years in a small basement room with nothing but concrete walls in front of me. Gradually, the walls were doing to me what interrogators do to a prisoner. I made Achilles because I believe that Iranians can no longer tolerate the walls.
The movement of “Women, Life, Freedom” which started during the shooting, is a confirmation of that. The film’s ending is sanguine about the prospect of a future without those walls.
And I think that is the reason why such a wonderful group of people from Iran, Germany and France gathered to make this idea come true. »

More info at: Official Web Site Visit Films

More info at: Composer Mehrdad Jafari Raad Official Site