Rating: 
Summary: This is an excellent movie!
Review: Let's talk about the DVD itself. The only thing special is that you have control of what language to see the subtitles...that's about it...and scene selections.Now, this movie is so through provoking and powerful. It is about a women who is sent by the government to get people to vote. She has her problems from the moment she steps of the boat with the person who is to escort but she shows herself as a powerful and intelligent woman and simply deals with the matter in that fashion. She is the off to find people to vote. However she find herself dealing with many issues of the people. For exmaple: a group of women come to vote and the man states he will do the voting for them. Instead of getting upset and losing image, she simply explains that every citizen has the right to vote on the own and have their own opinion. Something, we westerners take for granted. She is also confronted by people who are against voting and she finds herself breaking some of the religious rules to try to get them to vote. I won't give anymore away. However the character grows in this film and we learn so much about the people of Iran. The values, customs, and religion. I recommend this movie for those who want to sit back and enjoy a movie that really takes you into the mind and heart of a culture
Rating: 
Summary: Slow? yes, but it lingers sweetly with you for a long time
Review: Personally, I enjoy "slow" movies- you get to savor the atmosphere and the characters- why the rush all the time? I watched this over Winter Break along with many other foreign movies and this is the one that really has really stayed with me.
Take an evening and just sit back, relax, and enjoy this quiet little film that steps into the lives of the inhabitants of an isolated island on election day. Watch the main characters grow as they encounter new attitudes and ideas.
Rating:
Summary: A day on a desert isle
Review: The tranquility of a desert dawn is rudely interrupted by aircraft engines. A parachuted box varies the mundane task of two soldiers watching for smugglers. With the arrival of a boat dispatching a young woman on the beach, nothing will ever be the same. Democracy has arrived on an Iranian island - wearing a chador and sturdy walking shoes.
Few films have started in as low a key as this one. Fewer still have built a story of such intense human realism from such a gentle beginning. The soldier, shocked at the arrival of a woman as the Election Officer, is reluctant to be commandeered as her escort. She has the power of The Law on her side, however. They must tour the island, collecting votes, and return to camp to meet the boat at 5:00 o'clock - "You're ordered to escort me".
The ensuing day is marked by clashes of personality, background, role and purpose. The soldier's job is to catch law-breakers. That covers just about anyone who's behaviour he can't immediately comprehend. A man running across the sands is a voter to one and a fleeing criminal to the other. Which is he? That he votes doesn't settle the question. Voters come in all shapes, sizes, dress - and attitudes - "even smugglers can vote", she says. A group of women voters are delivered in a giant dump truck - but they speak a dialect the Election Officer doesn't know. Although the slate is ten "approved candidates" [approved by who?], one man bypasses them to vote for his own favourite. Others don't want to take the time - "voting doesn't catch fish".
The Election Officer has her own answers to these complaints. With an enthusiasm a Britannica salesman would envy, she sells democracy to the island's residents. And a few others. She rises to every objection: "If you vote, you can plan your life better". Illiterate voters who can't read the names are encouraged to "vote for the photographs". Her intensity is palpable - would there were more like her here! At the end, there is only one vote left to obtain. The scene resolves the entire film while resolving nothing. There should be a sequel, but it will never be filmed.
Payami's film is almost indescribable in its stark beauty. The purity of the desert provides an excellent background to the intense human story. There are many levels to cope with as you watch it unfold. These are people distrustful of what they can't grasp, control or understand. An election has remote meaning to a culture unused to its vagaries. They are far from ignornant, but they are an isolated community. Payami offers no issues, parties, ambitions either distant nor local in the election. Survival, the daily struggle on the island, is the key. Payami highlights the protagonists when needed, but sets them against the changing background as the Election Officer and the Soldier tour the island. The foreground changes, also, as the Officer and Soldier work out their roles. Highly recommended. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating:
Summary: Easily misunderstood masterpiece
Review: This film is easily misunderstood, but even those who do not fully understand it, will enjoy it and find it "sweet", "charming" or "gentle". The storyline is simple. A box drops out of the sky close to the guardpost on an island in some Islamic country. Half an hour later a small boat appears, a woman gets off and orders the guard to accompany her to go and get votes on ballot day. Why is this easy to misunderstand? Because the film communicates so much in a very simple way. Firstly, it is a comedy - not the outward belly-laugh kind, but the inward warm-smile kind. Every single situation the two chief characters experience is absurd. Take for instance the scene where there is a red robot in the middle of the desert, without even a clear intersection. Also look out for the ballot agent literally not leaving any stone unturned to find the votes! Where have you ever heard of the ballot box going to the voters, instead of the voters going to the ballot box? One voter insists on Allah as a write-in candidate to vote for! One can go on and on - but the tone of the film is so down-to-earth and realistic that you almost miss the tongue-in-cheek humour. Most people I have spoken to actually thought it was supposed to be totally realistic! The film is also stunning social and political commentary. It raises questions on democracy (how can somebody who do not know you, your community or your situation "represent" you? What good is democracy if it makes absolutely no difference to your life?). It raises questions about gender discrimination, especially the role and capabilities of a woman (the guard insists at the beginning, embarrassed to be ordered around by a woman, "I thought you should have been a man"!). It raises questions about false deadlines - the fallacy of getting everything that needs to be done, done within an unrealistic deadline. It raises questions on religion (who do you depend on, God or the government?). The film is also a human drama. The two main caharacters, despite their absurd situation, are depicted as very rounded individuals and during the day their respect, understanding and liking for each other is gradually enhanced. Once again this is very subtly done: note the change of tone in their talking to each other and the subject matter, note where they are sitting in the vehicle as the day progresses. At the end of the day, the guard wants to vote for the ballot agent! To crown it all, it gives the uninitiated some better understanding of Islamic culture, idiosincracies and prejudice. Moving too slow? No way - you need a little time to savour what is happening. Outward action may be restricted, but through all the above themes there is a rich tapestry of events which you can enjoy. The film accomplishes much with remarkably little special effects, it is gentle and warm and it leaves you with the feeling that you have seen something special, yet you don't know quite why you feel that way. Keep the above comments in mind and I am sure you will enjoy it tremendously - whatever you do, give it a go!
Rating:
Summary: Easily misunderstood masterpiece
Review: This film is easily misunderstood, but even those who do not fully understand it, will enjoy it and find it "sweet", "charming" or "gentle". The storyline is simple. A box drops out of the sky close to the guardpost on an island in some Islamic country. Half an hour later a small boat appears, a woman gets off and orders the guard to accompany her to go and get votes on ballot day. Why is this easy to misunderstand? Because the film communicates so much in a very simple way. Firstly, it is a comedy - not the outward belly-laugh kind, but the inward warm-smile kind. Every single situation the two chief characters experience is absurd. Take for instance the scene where there is a red robot in the middle of the desert, without even a clear intersection. Also look out for the ballot agent literally not leaving any stone unturned to find the votes! Where have you ever heard of the ballot box going to the voters, instead of the voters going to the ballot box? One voter insists on Allah as a write-in candidate to vote for! One can go on and on - but the tone of the film is so down-to-earth and realistic that you almost miss the tongue-in-cheek humour. Most people I have spoken to actually thought it was supposed to be totally realistic! The film is also stunning social and political commentary. It raises questions on democracy (how can somebody who do not know you, your community or your situation "represent" you? What good is democracy if it makes absolutely no difference to your life?). It raises questions about gender discrimination, especially the role and capabilities of a woman (the guard insists at the beginning, embarrassed to be ordered around by a woman, "I thought you should have been a man"!). It raises questions about false deadlines - the fallacy of getting everything that needs to be done, done within an unrealistic deadline. It raises questions on religion (who do you depend on, God or the government?). The film is also a human drama. The two main caharacters, despite their absurd situation, are depicted as very rounded individuals and during the day their respect, understanding and liking for each other is gradually enhanced. Once again this is very subtly done: note the change of tone in their talking to each other and the subject matter, note where they are sitting in the vehicle as the day progresses. At the end of the day, the guard wants to vote for the ballot agent! To crown it all, it gives the uninitiated some better understanding of Islamic culture, idiosincracies and prejudice. Moving too slow? No way - you need a little time to savour what is happening. Outward action may be restricted, but through all the above themes there is a rich tapestry of events which you can enjoy. The film accomplishes much with remarkably little special effects, it is gentle and warm and it leaves you with the feeling that you have seen something special, yet you don't know quite why you feel that way. Keep the above comments in mind and I am sure you will enjoy it tremendously - whatever you do, give it a go!
Rating:
Summary: My "Opinion", universally is what?
Review: This film is very funny. The political point is clear. The only thing I see other reviewers expressing disapointment about is "it's slow pace". This is not a Hollywood film, which is based on the philosophy that if more than 30 seconds passes without something "happening", it is already boring. The only problem with that philosophy is usually the directors find themselves doing something, anything, every 30 seconds until 2 hours of really nothing has passed you by. This film does not make that mistake. Some westerners are upset by this. What some call "slow pace", I call "sub-text". What some call "low-key", I call "brilliantly humble". But, after all, this is just my "opinion", just my one vote - which universally is what?
Rating:
Summary: My "Opinion", universally is what?
Review: This film is very funny. The political point is clear. The only thing I see other reviewers expressing disapointment about is "it's slow pace". This is not a Hollywood film, which is based on the philosophy that if more than 30 seconds passes without something "happening", it is already boring. The only problem with that philosophy is usually the directors find themselves doing something, anything, every 30 seconds until 2 hours of really nothing has passed you by. This film does not make that mistake. Some westerners are upset by this. What some call "slow pace", I call "sub-text". What some call "low-key", I call "brilliantly humble". But, after all, this is just my "opinion", just my one vote - which universally is what?
Rating: 
Summary: A Vote Against
Review: This has to be the slowest movie I've seen since La Dolce Vita. The idea is great--an Iranian election agent trying to gather votes from a remote island whose residents are really quite disenfranchised from the whole process--but the concept has trouble being stretched over a 105 minutes, and would perhaps been better served by 30. Some of the drawn out portions are identifiably purposeful, to illustrate the slow pace of life, for example, of the guards, one of whom has to escort the agent as she attempts to collect votes. And maybe some of those scenes had more interest when shone upon a large screen rather than the 12-inch television that we currently use. I don't believe either that the movie, while a comedy, is meant to be as insanely hilarious as something like The Gods Must Be Crazy, but attempts ironic detachment, a kind of intellectual humor that doesn't make your belly ache but your head nod. Even so, the nod my head tended to give it was more in falling asleep. And unlike some movies, the theme isn't impossible to discern. You know exactly what the writer-director is trying to underline with the scene where the guard stops at a red light in the middle of the desert even though there is nobody else in sight, and the election official urges him to move on or they will be late to catch her returning boat and thus invalidating the votes she has collected. I just wish that scene could have happened an hour earlier.
Rating:
Summary: not everyone's cup of tea, but just like i like mine, sweet!
Review: This movie is a very realistic look at a culture most of us don't know, and maybe don't care to. If you are looking for action, forget this movie. Special effects, forget it, but, if you are like me, and would like a peek into a culture that I know nothing about but want to, this is a movie for you. It is such a great story. Modern, but still fully clothed and veiled, woman has a government job to go to rural areas and collect votes. She is guarded by a "by the book" soldier who often finds her silly ( at first ) as they travel to places where only a handful of people live, her struggle to convince people of the "power of voting" which is all of thier rights, and his to behave like a soldier while accompaning her leads to some very subtle but nice humor. There are alot of long uncut scenes of drivng down dusty roads and boats cutting through water but to me it helped me get caught up in the feel of the story. After this movie i feel so lucky to be educated and have access to technology and world events. The people in this story do not. their life would seem so boring to us but they know no other. Oh yes, there is a scene with a traffic signal in the middle of the desert that is hysterical to me. Thanks for reading!
Rating: 
Summary: understated, clever look at life
Review: Two soldiers patrol the beach at the edge of an island. A motorboat drops off a single passenger, a woman. She introduces herself to one soldier, then tells him that he will escort her around the island to collect the residents' votes. It's election day. The soldier is unhappy with this arrangement, and demands to see his orders. His orders state that an "agent" will arrive to administer voting, not a woman! None too happy about a requirement that he serve a female boss for one day, he obliges. He insists on carrying his gun, because without the gun, he gets no respect. The woman insists that he leave the gun, because citizens should be "free" to vote. The pair encounter various unusual citizens on the island, including a rural encampment where a baby is being born, a solar energy station (?) which is tended by an old man, and a camp ruled by a woman called Granny, who refuses to see the vote-takers. Along the way the woman engages her escort, and several of the potential voters, in debates about why and how people should vote. One of the better episodes involves a man who brings about a dozen women to vote, then claims he will vote for them. Another involves a trio of voters who truly want to vote, but the candidate they prefer is not on the list of approved candidates. Secret Ballot is an Iranian film from director Babak Payami. While not on the level of such Iranian movie masterpieces as Abbas Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry, or the films of Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Secret Ballot is worth a viewing. It is a slight and modest film, but thoughtprovoking, and, at times, beautiful. The pace of Secret Ballot is leisurely at best, plodding at its worst. Often, scenes are ill conceived or seem to drag on beyond any possible entertainment or educational value. Still, the movie is beautifully shot, and the conversations between the female agent and male soldier are worth the price of a rental. This is a rare look at a life most westerners will never see, and that is what makes Secret Ballot worthwhile. ken32
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