Re: Movie Review - "The Stoning Of Soraya M"
nkdat...@bigmailbox.net
woman condemned by religion distorted]
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-stoning26-2009jun26,0,2293979.story
Los Angeles Times
June 26, 2009
MOVIE REVIEW
'The Stoning of Soraya M.'
By Kevin Thomas
"The Stoning of Soraya M." lives up to its title quite literally --
and rightly so, for it is important to understand just how cruel and
drawn-out this ancient form of execution is and how prevalent it
remains, not just in Iran, the film's setting, but in countries
throughout the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa that follow Islamic
Sharia law.
The timing of the film's release is apt, for it serves as a metaphor
for the current protests in Iran against the long-standing
oppressiveness of the Islamic Republic.
Based on a true story recounted in the late Freidoune Sahebjam's book,
"The Stoning of Soraya M." was filmed in a remote mountain village in
an undisclosed Middle Eastern country. Jim Caviezel is cast as
Sahebjam, an eminent Iranian journalist based in France who is passing
through the village when he is accosted by a distraught woman, Zahra
(Shohreh Aghdashloo), who prevails upon him to tape the terrible story
she has to tell.
Only the day before, her niece Soraya (Mozhan MarnB 2) was executed in
the town square by stoning. Her husband, Ali (Navid Negahban), who has
the village leaders in his thrall, had concocted a flimsy and
completely false charge of adultery against Soraya, the mother of
their four children, so that he can be free to marry a 14-year-old
girl; Soraya had refused to divorce Ali because she had no other means
of support.
What is so compelling about this film, directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh, an
American of Iranian descent who adapted Sahebjam's 1994 book with his
wife, Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh, is the way religion can be exploited in
the most obscene and hypocritical manner by those in power to oppress
others -- and how total power over others can corrupt totally. Islam
happens to be the religion here, but what happens in the course of
this important and uncompromising film recalls evils perpetrated in
the name of Christianity and other organized religions as well.
"The Stoning of Soraya M." goes well beyond its angry didacticism and
its specific indictment of men's oppression of women to achieve the
impact of a Greek tragedy through its masterful grasp of suspense and
group psychology, and some superb acting, especially on the parts of
Marnò in the title role of a courageous martyr and the commanding
Aghdashloo, Oscar nominated for her performance in "The House of Sand
and Fog."