Product Details

• Directors: Hamid Rahmanian
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English, Farsi
• Subtitles: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: 4th Row Films/Film Movement
• DVD Release Date: August 11, 2008
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000FJXABW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,370 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Day Break" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

In Iran, capital punishment is carried out according to Islamic law, which gives the family of the victim ownership of the offender's life. Bay Break, based on a compilation of true stories and shot inside of Tehran's cerntury-ol prison, revolves around the imminent execution of Mansour, a man found guilty of murder. WHen the family of the victim repeatedly fails to show up on the appointed day, the execution is postponed again and again. Stuck inside the purgatory of his own mind, he waits as time passes on without him caught between life and death, retribution and forgiveness.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing film, August 20, 2006

By 

M. LaFreniere - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Day Break (DVD)

an amazing film. it gives the feel of a documentary in the beginning, sucking you into the reality and showing a different justice system -- one that emphasizes religion and the right of the family of the victim to decides the fate of the murderer, deciding whether the murderer will be executed or serve a long sentence -- the length of the sentence is decided by law. In an early scene, the protagonist and another inmate come to their execution. The victim's family of the protagonist is not there so the decision of his execution is put off for 40 days. The family's presence is mandatory. The other inmate begs the victim's family for forgiveness. The muslim priest lectures them on the importance of forgiveness even as he outlines their right to decide on the execution. Will the family decide to execute? If they do, the man will be hanged but one family member must pull the trolley out from under the man to hang him. You feel that this is a system that does not put the state above the feelings of the person/family. Yet can an average person follow through on killing a killer? In an amazing piece of acting, the father faces his son's killer set on vengeance, but then must face killing the killer. You feel that father's grief, anger and morality. Killing, even killing a killer, is a moral decision. The movie follows the other man in limbo when his victim's family doesn't show. We witness the relationship between the inmates, his despair and his reflections on his life and his relationship with his parents and pregnant wife while he waits. We don't see the actual murder, which is a fault as it is too easy to sympathize with the murderer. I don't know if the movie reflects the reality of the prison system there but if so it is much more humane than here int he U.S. as the prisoners bond in a community trying to give hope to each other. The guards treat them as human although they do what they have to to quell problems, using solitary confinement as punishment. You feel some of these men are salvageable and that this is a system that gives them a chance to join society while giving the victim's family justice. A very good movie. The acting is very good. Framing as a documentary and sliding into a film is a very good move, allowing the filmmakers to ask questions about justice while exploring one man's mind. A+

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Touching Emotional Wallop, March 9, 2007

By 

Lee Armstrong (Winterville, NC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Day Break (DVD)

Film Movement's DVD "Day Break" brings the Iranian film by director Hamid Rahmanian to Western audiences. The film is riveting as Mansour gets angry at his boss and picks up a big rock. The offscreen action results in a murder. Through flashbacks, we learn the backstory that Mansour moved his family to Tehran from their little village in northern Iran. The boss apparently breaks a promise and tells Mansour not to call and insultingly calls him "a villager," similar to a being called a hick or a hillbilly in the U.S. Hossein Yari does a masterful job in the lead role. We see in flashback his courtship with his wife and their tender loving relationship. When his wife gives birth, he brings the baby a pair of slippers. The intense regret he feels for the murder and its potential sacrifice of his life is prolonged when the family of the murdered victim who must be present cancels three times. Each time the execution is stayed. The film was shot inside Tehran's century-old prison and gives an interesting perspective on a very different justice system. The film is touching and has a great emotional wallop.

The short film of 17-year old drummer Anders Erickson is amazing for its sonic and visual pyrotechnics. Canadian director Deco Dawson does an excellent job with this 9-minute documentary. Together, this is an excellent DVD! Bravo!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars retribution, fate or forgiveness?, September 17, 2008

By 

Daniel B. Clendenin (www.journeywithjesus.net) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Day Break (DVD)

Mansour murdered his boss, that much is clear, and for his crime he sits on death row in Tehran's Ghasr Prison awaiting execution. What's not clear is why the family of the victim has remained absent on three execution dates. Is this mere coincidence? A form of deliberate torture? An act of forgiveness? In Islamic law the family of the victim must attend the execution of the convicted, and in their hands rests both retribution and pardon. Mansour's father begs for mercy. His pregnant wife gives birth while he's in prison. His fellow prisoners are carted to their own executions while inmates make bets on the outcome. Mansour is haunted by memory, nightmares, and, most of all, the tedium of waiting for his fourth execution date. That's forty long days, the period of mourning the victim's family must observe for a death in their own family. This film was an official selection at the Tribeca and Toronto festivals. In Farsi with English subtitles.