Dog Killing

*Killing Mad Dogs* is a feature-length crime thriller film with neo-noir elements, directed by Bahram Beyzai in 1999 and 2000, which was released in 2001 in Iranian cinemas and became the best-selling film of the year. The screenplay book of *Killing Mad Dogs*, written by Beyzai, was also published in 2001. This is Bahram Beyzai’s twelfth released film and, like most of his other films, was labeled as “A work of Lisar Film group.” The film was made after Beyzai did not have the opportunity to create films for ten years. Many renowned Iranian actors acted in this film – including Mojdeh Shamsai, Jamshid Layeq, Enayat Bakhshi, Majid Mozaffari, Fardous Kaviani, and Mahtab Nasirpur. *Killing Mad Dogs* is considered one of the significant films of Iranian cinema, and some Iranian critics have compared aspects of this film to classic works in the history of cinema. The story of the film takes place from late autumn 1988 to shortly afterward – approximately one year – in Tehran and Bagestan. A Persian-speaking writer named Golrokh Kamali, who had left her husband last year in anger after suspecting a relationship between him and his company secretary, returns to Tehran after the end of the war and finds her husband, Nasser Moaser, bankrupt and on the verge of being imprisoned. Golrokh discovers that Nasser’s partner, Javad Moghadam, had staged a fraud, taken all the company’s assets, and illegally crossed the border, leaving Nasser behind with the company’s debts and the pressure of creditors. Golrokh feels obligated to make up for her earlier misplaced suspicion and now aims to save her husband by trying to buy back the checks, prove his innocence, and gain the plaintiffs’ consent to secure his release from prison. Gradually, Golrokh, with naivety, enters a profession and a world far removed from her ideals: the world of market trade. She begins bargaining and negotiating with each of Nasser’s creditors and plaintiffs to secure their satisfaction. In doing so, she progresses to the point of no return and realizes she is engaged in a battle in which she cannot afford to fail.