I didn’t like Houman Seyyedi’s WWIII but there’s something about him working in television that’s curious. And there’s a lot of promise in The Savage, about labourer / landowner Davood Ashraf (Javad Ezzati). He’s usually good with kids,or he thinks he is, giving toys to one of his coworkers who experiences a workplace injury. That quality made him think he can pick up kids who end up dying because of him. Now he has to juggle his two jobs, covering up a murder, and dealing with witnesses.
The Savage is based on true events so it is difficult to critique the story viewers see on screen, though I saw the show’s three episodes focuses on Davood and it juggles too many subplots. The subplot with Shokoufeh (Zahra Madadi), a teen wife prospect for him, seems thankfully done. Another valid criticism about this is that Davood isn’t the smartest protagonist. But we’re armchair critiquing manslaughter, and most people hope they never have Davood’s luck.
The brutality of seeing that girl in The Savage strangely makes me give this show grace, and I’m happy that Houman Seyyedi went there even though the three episodes show his sadist streak. That third episode that TIFF showed hints at what else he’s going for with Davood’s character. He puts Davood, a forty year old man, in situations where power dynamics can shift any time. Seyyedi makes it difficult for Davood to get out of things, but there’s hope he does.
Image Credit: Courtesy of TIFF
- Rated: R, TV-MA
- Genre: Drama
- Release Date: 9/13/2025
- Directed by: Houman Seyyedi
- Starring: Javad Ezzati, Zahra Madadi
- Written by: Houman Seyyedi
