One good turn deserves another goes the old saying.

Add to that, one false move begets another,  and you have the praxis of A HERO, the latest film of human frailty from master Iranian film maker, Asghar Farhadi.

 We first meet Rahim Soltani, the hero of this wry, ironically titled film, ascending an ancient ruin to talk to his brother in law, an archaeological restorer. Like the edifice he climbs, Rahim’s life is in ruins, having been incarcerated in debtors’ prison, still owing money to his ex wife’s brother, needing to care for his special needs son, and to restore his reputation.

The present is not all gloom – he has formed a romantic attachment to his son’s speech pathologist and he has the emotional support of his sister and her husband- but to secure his future he must find a job, pay off his debt, and reinstate his trustworthiness.

 Barriers raised by  bureaucracy, blood feud and belligerence force him to bend the truth and a ripple effect of antagonism, mistrust and desperation gather into a tsunami of obfuscation and suspicion, fuelled and fanned by social media’s pernicious presence.

 The path to hell is paved with good intentions and that proverb comes to mind watching A HERO, as we see Rahim digging a bigger and bigger hole, where the slightest detour from the moral compass compounds already complex scenarios.

 The excavation of human foible is bigger than the hole Rahim is digging for himself with a shovel supplied by a largely unsympathetic society and unbending bureaucracy.

Amir Jididi gives a pleasing performance as the much put upon Rahim, presenting a cheerful personality even when under pressure until a limit of frustration is breached and bottled up anger is unleashed.

 A HERO conflates mistakes made by an individual, and, without malice aforethought, those mistakes can make villains of us all.

A HERO is now playing at Palace Cinemas, The Ritz, Randwick and Hayden Orpheum