Mysterious and elusive, Aliyar Rasti’s excellent two-hander conceals a great reservoir of emotional and spiritual turmoil under a patient, placid surface. Recruited for a cryptic treasure hunt, damaged young agnostic Shoja accompanies Beitollah on a journey to Northern Iran in search of a cave that may or may not exist with a cache of gold coins. An older man of deep but wavering faith, Beitollah is in search of far more than riches, and his reasons for needing a companion are equally uncertain. As they travel from cave to cave, they meet a variety of people of noble and nefarious intent. Rasti, in his feature debut, brings a photographer's eye to every frame, crafting a movie with an intuitive visual sensibility and letting the power of its images convey profound ambiguity. The Great Yawn of History harnesses the tremendous dramatic storytelling that is central to Iranian filmmaking, inverting The Treasure of the Sierra Madre on a beguiling, soulful metaphorical journey into the desert. ~OO