Where God Is Not review victims of torture by the Iranian secret police re-enact their abuse

"Mehran Tamadon's probing film operates a kind of dialogue with his related documentary My Worst Enemy, as it creates sequences in which victims of abuse by the Iranian secret police re-enact their ordeal. In this one, the title is taken from the brutal words sprung upon a prisoner by their jailer who declares that, within the forbidding walls of the prison, God simply does not exist."

"Once an entrepreneur dealing in video equipment for major Iranian news stations, Mazyar Ebrahimi was falsely accused of espionage and assassination. With extraordinary calm, he demonstrates the various methods of torture inflicted on his body, with Tamadon role-playing the part of the detainee. In a pivotal scene, Ebrahimi gets to reclaim his narrative and briefly steps behind the camera, as Tamadon recreates a news broadcast where Ebrahimi was forced to confess to baseless charges of murder."

"For others, however, this process of reliving the past reawakens dormant traumas and reveals the limitations of such a practice. Homa Kalhori, an author who endured years of confinement, breaks into tears just from hearing the sounds of coffins being welded, a psychological intimidation tactic once used by her captors. It is genuinely harrowing to see how her distress initially escapes Tamadon's notice, all while being captured by the camera."

Mehran Tamadon's film stages re-enactments in which victims of the Iranian secret police reconstruct their ordeals in warehouses in Paris. The title derives from a jailer declaration that within the forbidding walls of the prison God simply does not exist, a sentiment reinforced by survivors' testimony. Mazyar Ebrahimi, once a video-equipment entrepreneur, demonstrates torture methods calmly and reclaims his narrative by stepping behind the camera to recreate a coerced news confession. Other participants experience renewed trauma, notably Homa Kalhori who weeps at the sound of coffins being welded. The production provides limited emotional support, exposing ethical and practical limitations of the re-enactment approach.

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