A Hero (Persian: romanized: Ghahreman) is a 2021 Iranian film written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, and starring Amir Jadidi, Mohsen Tanabandeh and Sahar Goldoost. In June 2021, the film was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or. At the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, the film won the Grand Prix. It was selected as the Iranian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.
Rahim Soltani is temporarily released from prison for a two-day period in order to settle an unpaid debt of 150,000,000 tomans to his brother-in-law, Bahram. Rahim’s lover, Farkondeh, has acquired a lost handbag containing several gold coins, which they both attempt to sell in order to repay the debt, but find that gold has lost value to the point where Rahim cannot repay Bahram in full. In the meantime, he moves in with his sister Malileh and her husband Hossein.
Malileh discovers the handbag and coins and confronts Rahim about it, leading Rahim to pursue the original owner of the handbag and return it to them. After the original owner comes to claim the bag (which Rahim claims he found), Rahim is praised for his selfless act and his story is covered by the media before he returns to prison and becomes a local celebrity. Bahram is immediately suspicious of Rahim’s story, believing he is trying to restore his image and leave prison to stop the impending second marriage of his ex-wife. The prison begins to arrange for Rahim’s release.
At a charity event to raise money and provide employment for Rahim, Bahram is incensed to learn that less than a quarter of the debt’s total has been raised. He explains to the organizers that Rahim, then unable to take out a loan from a bank, received the money from Bahram that he acquired from a loan shark, who he eventually had to repay when Rahim failed to make payments. Despite this, Bahram agrees to have Rahim released for the sake of his estranged son, Siavash.
While applying for his new job, Rahim learns that rumors have begun to spread disputing his supposed discovery and returning of the handbag, prompting Rahim to locate the woman in order for her to confirm his story, though his search is fruitless. Rahim and Malileh plot to have Farkondeh pose as the woman, using details from the actual encounter to validate Rahim’s story. The hiring manager produces a text from Rahim to Bahram offering to pay half the debt a week before the day he claimed to have found the bag, leading him to reject Rahim’s application.
