Sound Museum

Missaghi (Trans(re)lating House One) toes the line between dark humor and horror in this transfixing story about a museum of torture in Iran. The narrative takes the form of a monologue by the museum’s unnamed curator during a press preview prior to its grand opening. The curator, who possesses direct knowledge of the exhibit’s material thanks to her previous career as an interrogator, explains the museum’s intention to break the stereotypical perception of torturers as inhuman brutes, arguing that everyone “has a thirst for and inclination toward violence.” She breaks down her decision to hire an all-women staff to combat the patriarchal nature of police and interrogators, as well as her choice to shift the museum’s collection away from images to focus mainly on sound, since modern torture relies less on visual clues and more on psychological efforts. Among the museum’s offerings are livestreams of solitary confinement in cells around the world and archives of audio clips recorded before and after torture sessions. As the curator attempts to justify her own terrible history as a torturer, she harangues the gathered journalists for viewing Iran as an “underdeveloped third-world country” and expressing more sympathy for those suffering in “blond and modern” Ukraine. In the end, the curator is a useful cipher for Missaghi’s satire of Iran’s human rights violations. This is as smart as it is uncompromising. (Oct.)