Under the Shadow

In the 80’s, during the war between the Islamic post-revolutionary Iran and Iraq, the former leftist medical student Shideh tries to return to the university but is barred by the dean. The upset Shideh returns home and when her husband Dr. Iraj is assigned to work in a war zone, she refuses to move to his parent’s house with their daughter Dorsa. Shideh prefers to stay in her apartment with Dorsa, who loves her doll Kimia and has constant fever. Dorsa is afraid of demoniac Djinns and when Shideh asks who told her about the legend, she tells that her friend that lives downstairs. Shideh visits her neighbor and asks his mother to tell her son to not tell horror stories to Dorsa and she learns that the boy is mute. Then Kimia and Shideh’s Jane Fonda workout tape disappear. When a missile strikes their building, the neighbors decide to leave Tehran, but Shideh stays in the apartment with Dorsa, who is increasingly disturbed. Soon Shideh reads about Djinns and finds that there is an evil entity in the apartment. Further she must find Kimia; otherwise Dorsa will be in danger since the Djinn will be attached to her.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil