Drowning in Holy Water (2020) Review: Faith at a Crossroads

Is Drowning in Holy Water worth watching?

Yes, with reservations. Drowning in Holy Water is a sincere, affecting small-scale drama about love, migration and the price of a better life, and its central dilemma lingers after the credits. Navid Mahmoudi tells the story of a young Afghan couple with restraint and compassion, and at 85 minutes it never outstays its welcome. The reservation is that the film’s modest scale and tidy structure keep it from the depth its subject deserves; it raises big questions more readily than it dramatises them.

What is Drowning in Holy Water about?

Rona and Hamed are two young Afghans in love. Like many of their generation, they are searching for a way out and a future elsewhere, and they have set their hopes on reaching Europe. But making that journey possible requires a difficult decision, one that touches on their religion and on beliefs that have shaped their families and their sense of who they are.

Drowning in Holy Water is a Persian-language drama from Afghanistan, made in collaboration with Iran, directed by Mahmoudi. It runs 85 minutes, and its cast includes Ali Shadman, Neda Jebraeili, Matin Heydarnia and Sadaf Asgari. The film won the top prize at the Malaysia International Film Festival in 2022.

A love story under pressure

The film is strongest as a portrait of two young people whose relationship is tested by forces far larger than themselves. Mahmoudi keeps the focus intimate, favouring conversations, glances and silences over plot, and the couple’s affection feels genuine. Their plans for the future are small and human, which makes the obstacles in their way all the more painful.

The central dilemma is well chosen. It asks what people are willing to give up in exchange for safety and opportunity, and how much of identity is negotiable. The film treats both characters’ positions with respect rather than judgement, and it lets the audience feel the weight of a choice that has no painless answer.

Quiet, unfussy craft

The filmmaking is plain and controlled. Mahmoudi’s direction relies on naturalistic performances and simple, observational staging, a style familiar from much Iranian and Afghan cinema, and it suits the story’s human scale. The cast play their roles with understated conviction, and the film avoids melodrama even when the situation invites it.

Its brevity is both an asset and a limitation. The compact running time keeps the story focused, but it also means some supporting characters and the wider social pressures on the couple are only sketched, leaving viewers to fill in context that a longer or richer film might have explored.

Where the film falls short

The structure can feel schematic. Because the story is built so directly around a single decision, the characters sometimes seem to exist to embody positions in an argument rather than to live as full people, and the drama’s turns are easy to anticipate. Viewers expecting the emotional complexity of the best films from the region may find it earnest rather than revelatory. Its sincerity, however, is never in doubt.

Who should watch Drowning in Holy Water?

It suits viewers interested in migration stories, in the experiences of young Afghans, and in quiet, dialogue-driven dramas built around moral choices. It is a gentle watch in terms of content, with no graphic violence, though its themes of faith, displacement and sacrifice carry real emotional weight. At 85 minutes, it is an easy single sitting.

Two films that make rich companions:

• A Separation, Asghar Farhadi’s masterly Iranian drama about a family decision with no good options, and the benchmark for this kind of moral dilemma.
• In the Land of Brothers, a moving drama about Afghan families building lives far from home.

The verdict

Drowning in Holy Water is a heartfelt, restrained drama about love and the compromises demanded by the search for a better life. Its modest scale and schematic structure limit its power, but its compassion and the question at its heart make it well worth 85 minutes.

Rating: 3.5/5