Possessed is arguably one of Shirin Neshat’s most affecting work of art. The film's protagonist, played by actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, madly roams the streets of an Iranian city without wearing a hijab, the compulsory veil imposed upon women after the 1979 revolution. Muttering to herself, she is initially ignored until she ascends a platform where her private suffering becomes a public spectacle. As she shouts, the gathering crowd slowly takes on the violent traits of her madness. She then slips away unnoticed, leaving in her wake a mounting cacophony of violence. The conclusion of the film is ambiguous and unsettling: asking the viewer to consider, has she found freedom as her free-flowing hair would suggest, or does she represent a universal restlessness and discontent brought about by the geopolitical vicissitudes of contemporary world order?