The aim of this article is to introduce and analyze social problems in Iran as reflected in the Iranian cinema. The theoretical approach used to explain these issues is the theory of reflection with emphasis on Pierre Sorlin’s mirror theory. The application of this theory in the cinema leads us to the image of society and its social problems in the cinema. The main sources of this study include articles published in scientific journals in the field. These sources are valuable and trustable because they are scientific and research-based sources. Most of these studies are conducted using qualitative methods and techniques.
Here, those articles that show studies of social problems in the cinema during the last four decades in Iran are collected. Then, using the method of meta-analysis and systematic review, the most important findings of these articles are summarized, categorized and analyzed.
Finally, it was found that the image that Iranian cinema produces of social problems of Iran is an image appropriate to social reality. Although in general, some issues in cinema have become more prominent than reality and others have been ignored, the most important social issues found in social research have also been reflected in the Iranian cinema. Therefore, we could say that Iranian cinema is an approppriate media for understanding important social problems in Iran.