The Stoning of Soraya M

Rating

Director

Cyrus Nowrasteh

Screenplay

Betsey Giffen Nowrateh, Cyrus Nowrasteh (Book: Freidoune Sahebjam)

Length

116 min.

Starring

Shohreh Aghdashloo, Mozhan Marno, Jim Caviezel, Navid Negahban, Ali Pourtash, David Diaan, Parviz Sayyad, Vida Ghahremani, Vachik Mangassarian

MPAA Rating

R for a disturbing sequence of cruel and brutal violence, and brief strong language.

Review

Would most viewers be shocked to learn that the events depicted in The Stoning of Soraya M are still going on? Most certainly they would, but it’s a sad state of affairs when women and other minorities are still treated like chattel, a situation the makers of this film are certainly hoping to correct.

Zahra (Shohreh Aghdashloo) is a fiercely strong woman in an area of Iran that frowns on such things. Women are meant to be subservient pieces of property to be used and disposed of when no longer needed. That’s how matters are where Zahra lives, but she won’t let that stop her from challenging authority and attempting to bring to light such despicable events.

Enter a journalist (Jim Caviezel) whose car breaks down outside the village and ends up sitting down with Zahra to hear all about the atrocities perpetrated on her niece Soraya M (Mozhan Marno). With his trusted tape recorder, every word Zahra speaks is captured.

Soraya’s husband, having found a younger, prettier more exotic woman in the big city, decides he wants to seek divorce. When the city’s elder approaches Soraya with the concept and she immediately protests over who would care for her and her daughters, he suggests that he will take her in. She immediately rebuffs the suggestion and refuses to grant dissolution.

Now every move she makes, including being hired as an assistant to a recently widowed man, is scrutinized by her husband and the village’s leaders in hopes that she will somehow betray him and thus earn him a separation. Yet, the story concocted to frame her for crimes she was not commissary of, leads towards the titular conclusion of the film, The Stoning of Soraya M.

The images presented in the film by historical filmmaker Cyrus Nowrasteh are quite shocking at times, but are mostly reserved and deliberate. The film is strongest when exploring the minutiae of Islamic life from the way women don their hijabs to the way they handle daily activities. When contrasted with the almost Americanized dress of the men, it paints a fairly strong portrait of social repression, which helps bolster the film’s key themes.

Aghdashloo is one of the few recognizable names and faces to emerge from Iran in the last decade. Her breakthrough role in 2003’s House of Sand and Fog earned her an Oscar nomination starting her trajectory into prominent roles on television (24, ER, FlashForward and her Emmy-winning performance in House of Saddam) and on the big screen (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Lake House and The Nativity Story). She’s even voiced a character on The Simpsons.

In The Stoning of Soraya M, although she is telling someone else’s story, she is clearly the center of the film. Aghdashloo presents a sympathetic character with courage and compassion, protecting her niece from persecution and challenging the men of the village despite the dire consequences she know could full well meet her as a result. And while many actresses my push too hard in showing their disdain for the cultural heritage, early scenes show just how much she respects her heritage, even if she disagrees with how vicious and cruel some Muslims have interpreted it. She inhabits the role with such strength of character that it’s not hard to want to cheer her on even when we know what could happen.

Other than Caviezel whose presence is rather plain and unexceptional, the performances are all rooted in deep, credible archetypes that don’t feel like cardboard cutouts on display to show how evil or good each person in the film is. They are all fully realized characters that the actors carry off effectively.

Director Nowrasteh, who with his wife Betsey Giffen, co-wrote the film’s screenplay based on the book penned by Caviezel’s character Freidoune Sahebjam (who looks more American than French in the film), does a tremendous job avoiding the common pitfalls of anti-discrimination films, presenting his characters and situations with realism and competence. The film may not move nearly as fast as it should, but this gives the viewer plenty of time to soak in the cultural elements that have been so carefully detailed. The screenplay reflects these ideas and presents a fair strong case in support of them.

What flaws the film has can be found mostly in the screenplay. The structure of the film feels forced to deliver the denouement just so that it can give the viewer a climactic moment of internal cheers. What’s worse is how it’s difficult to understand how Zahra manages to avoid serious repercussions for her actions and only gets disgruntled glances and not harsher ramifications. Is there something about her character that the audience isn’t aware of that allows her to escape unscathed?

An explanation of that might have made for a stronger film, but the final result is sufficient. The audience comes away understanding both the culture of another country and the struggle women face in those countries because of firmly followed religious teachings. The Stoning of Soraya M is political without feeling it, which makes it the kind of movie that most schools should show their students as an example of how things are in the world and why those things shouldn’t be.

Review Written

November 6, 2009