Saw this film recently at a special "pre-screening". The Stoning of Soraya M. is one of the few movies you will vividly remember to your dying day. It is almost unwatchable, yet you can't take your eyes off the screen. To think that women are still going through this today, creates a sense of obligation to see this movie. I can't stop thinking about all the women who encounter this type of injustice around the globe. Shohreh's performance is stunning and she surely deserves an Oscar nomination. She literally has pages of written text on her face, in one glance she communicates so much. Though tough to watch at places, I don't think it any different then the senseless violence in summer blockbusters and horror films. This film is a testament to the hundreds of thousand of voiceless women around the work.
120 Reviews
A gripping and intense cinematic experience
Harmik0119 June 2009
I can't remember the last time I had such a gripping and emotional experience in movie theatre. In the screening I attended there was audible sobbing and gasps throughout a large part of the film.
Sohreh Aghdashloo is excellent in her portrayal of the feisty Zarah. Newcomer Marzhan Marno is equally moving, and sympathetic in her role of the title character. I'll be surprised if come award time these ladies are not recognized for their work.
Though some have criticized the portrayals of the male characters as unbelievable I found them to be very accurate. Let's not pretend that sexism and religious hypocrisy are something new...even in our own society. These are men who abuse religious laws and principals for their own gain and too keep women subservient. However, the director does show other sides of these characters as well, struggling with their own beliefs and decisions (in private as to not show weakness in public).
The film is beautifully filmed as well, with the sweeping shots of the village landscape and the poetic images of chadors moving in the wind.
I never come on IMDb to write reviews, but 'The Stoning of Soroya M.' was such an intense and beautiful film that I had to spread the word. It deserves a much wider release than its getting, because its a breath of fresh air in a summer movie season full of inane comedies and action romps.
Sohreh Aghdashloo is excellent in her portrayal of the feisty Zarah. Newcomer Marzhan Marno is equally moving, and sympathetic in her role of the title character. I'll be surprised if come award time these ladies are not recognized for their work.
Though some have criticized the portrayals of the male characters as unbelievable I found them to be very accurate. Let's not pretend that sexism and religious hypocrisy are something new...even in our own society. These are men who abuse religious laws and principals for their own gain and too keep women subservient. However, the director does show other sides of these characters as well, struggling with their own beliefs and decisions (in private as to not show weakness in public).
The film is beautifully filmed as well, with the sweeping shots of the village landscape and the poetic images of chadors moving in the wind.
I never come on IMDb to write reviews, but 'The Stoning of Soroya M.' was such an intense and beautiful film that I had to spread the word. It deserves a much wider release than its getting, because its a breath of fresh air in a summer movie season full of inane comedies and action romps.
One of the most brutal and moving films ever made
mabwasreal15 February 2012
I watched this movie three days ago and it still haunts me and has kept me up at night. The title of the movie reveals how this story ends but nothing could have prepared me for the brutality depicted in the inevitable stoning scene. Many other reviewers have summarized the plot so I won't go into that, I'll just say that this movie NEEDS to be seen. This woman's story needs to be told. The world needs to know the reality of life for women in patriarchal societies, and this movie tells just one of the many stories of women who have endured the kind of treatment Soraya did.
To sum it up, this film broke my heart. The two female leads are such strong actors that you feel like you're experiencing the events with them. You feel their disbelief, their rage, their fear, their helplessness, their pain. When Soraya bravely walks to the spot where she knows she will die, when she sees the pile of rocks, when the first stone strikes her... and the next one, and the next one...you feel what she feels. Even though you know from the beginning what happens to Soraya you keep hoping that somehow the events unfold differently than they do. But they don't, and the result is absolutely devastating.
Be forewarned, this film presents a graphic depiction of a public stoning. It is brutal, cruel and extremely disturbing. The scenes will stay with you. But that is the point. The world needs to know what Soraya and countless women like her have experienced, because educating ourselves is the only way atrocities like this will end.
To sum it up, this film broke my heart. The two female leads are such strong actors that you feel like you're experiencing the events with them. You feel their disbelief, their rage, their fear, their helplessness, their pain. When Soraya bravely walks to the spot where she knows she will die, when she sees the pile of rocks, when the first stone strikes her... and the next one, and the next one...you feel what she feels. Even though you know from the beginning what happens to Soraya you keep hoping that somehow the events unfold differently than they do. But they don't, and the result is absolutely devastating.
Be forewarned, this film presents a graphic depiction of a public stoning. It is brutal, cruel and extremely disturbing. The scenes will stay with you. But that is the point. The world needs to know what Soraya and countless women like her have experienced, because educating ourselves is the only way atrocities like this will end.
Incredibly Poignant Film
ladyoflilies25 April 2009
I saw The Stoning of Soraya M. a few months back at a screening, and it was so incredibly poignant that just watching the newly-released trailer brought tears to my eyes. Tears for the woman upon whom this film is based, and tears for many others like her, throughout the world, who have no voice.
The Stoning of Soraya M. is well-paced overall and does a fantastic job of bringing the audiences into Soraya's helpless situation, as we, just as helplessly, witness the malicious or cowardly decisions of others that will eventually lead to her demise.
The film treats Islam with sensitivity and in no way implicates the religion itself in the brutal practice of stoning. Shohreh Aghdashloo's character, a Muslim, decries the stoning as against the will of God.
It is important to note that the film accurately depicts a stoning, and is therefore not for the feint of heart, but seekers of truth and justice will appreciate the candor with which it portrays the gruesome nature of the heinous practice.
I commend Cyrus Nowrasteh, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and the film's producers for their courage in making this film. Thanks to you, "the world will know."
The Stoning of Soraya M. is well-paced overall and does a fantastic job of bringing the audiences into Soraya's helpless situation, as we, just as helplessly, witness the malicious or cowardly decisions of others that will eventually lead to her demise.
The film treats Islam with sensitivity and in no way implicates the religion itself in the brutal practice of stoning. Shohreh Aghdashloo's character, a Muslim, decries the stoning as against the will of God.
It is important to note that the film accurately depicts a stoning, and is therefore not for the feint of heart, but seekers of truth and justice will appreciate the candor with which it portrays the gruesome nature of the heinous practice.
I commend Cyrus Nowrasteh, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and the film's producers for their courage in making this film. Thanks to you, "the world will know."
The brutality of The Stoning moved me to tears.
jenny-64526 June 2009
After watching the injustice and betrayal that Soraya, the lead character, suffered in this film I can no longer be silent about the injustice going on in this world today. The human rights violations happening in our world stabs at the heart of human dignity. The story starts off slowly and builds to a brutal and bloody ending that I did not expect. It sheds light on how one man's selfishness can incite a mob mentality against an innocent woman. The lack of compassion in the villagers is astounding, but the silence of justice is deafening. See this film as soon as you can! It is informative, life-changing and it makes you reevaluate what side of good and evil you really stand on. Choosing to not speak out is the same as condoning the crime.
Gripping, incredibly effective film
D-Hillman753 January 2011
Warning: Spoilers
It's actually hard to watch because the whole point of watching it is to arrive at a place where you really dread going. Mozhan Marno, the actress who portrays the title character, is extremely stoic and resolute, desperately trying to be brave about her impending fate -- yet the actress allows us to see her fear poking through the facade, even as the character tries to conceal it. It's an extremely tough trick to pull off, and Marno does so admirably.
Navid Negahban is riveting as Ali, the husband who falsely accuses his wife of adultery so that he can get out of his marriage in order to be with a much younger woman. One by one, he convinces/blackmails the people in Soraya's village to turn against her. The moment in which he coerces his young sons into joining the angry mob and to toss rocks at their own mother's head is one of the most powerful, horrible scenes depicted in a film in recent memory.
It's the type of film that makes your blood boil because of the horrible injustice inflicted upon the innocent. Small, intimate, and gritty. Highly recommended for those that can take this sort of thing.
Navid Negahban is riveting as Ali, the husband who falsely accuses his wife of adultery so that he can get out of his marriage in order to be with a much younger woman. One by one, he convinces/blackmails the people in Soraya's village to turn against her. The moment in which he coerces his young sons into joining the angry mob and to toss rocks at their own mother's head is one of the most powerful, horrible scenes depicted in a film in recent memory.
It's the type of film that makes your blood boil because of the horrible injustice inflicted upon the innocent. Small, intimate, and gritty. Highly recommended for those that can take this sort of thing.
important and moving
danstiller4026 June 2009
I almost didn't go see The Stoning of Soraya because of how graphic I heard it was, but I was invited to an early screening and it blew me away. It's shocking and hard, but I feel like everybody needs to see this movie to understand what these women are dealing with.
Of course we need to be active for women's rights and human rights everywhere, and I hope this will wake people up to it even more. All the physical violence in this movie is played out in emotional violence every day to many women in every country.
This movie is also absolutely beautifully shot with a great score-can't wait to see if it goes up for an Academy Award.
Of course we need to be active for women's rights and human rights everywhere, and I hope this will wake people up to it even more. All the physical violence in this movie is played out in emotional violence every day to many women in every country.
This movie is also absolutely beautifully shot with a great score-can't wait to see if it goes up for an Academy Award.
Speechless
wittnessing10126 June 2009
This film is breathtaking beyond words. It honestly left me speechless. I struggle even to put this review into words. It show's the brutal reality of abuse and discrimination in a powerful way. The tears in the eyes of Soraya's children after she is publicly executed. The anger in the eyes and hearts of the men as they kill her. A lot could be said of the stunning performances, the brilliant writing etc. But this movie has something that goes far beyond entertainment and artistic value. It gives a glimmer of hope to those suffering this kind of abuse through out the world. It takes a megaphone to a sleeping culture and says "You shall not be forgotten".
Unbelievably powerful...
natashabowiepinky31 May 2014
A tip: If you are born a female, make sure it's not in Iran.
They say it themselves: If you're accused of having an affair, and you're a woman, it's not up to them to prove you're guilty, but for you to establish your innocence. Of course with men, it's the other way around. You've bore your violent husband two girls and two boys and been married to him for twenty years. Suddenly one day, he decides to hitch up with a 14 year old girl instead. That's gratitude for you. But you won't give him a divorce, due to the fact it would leave you virtually penniless. So, he does the only thing a nasty bastard could do... he makes up a cock and bull story about you having an affair with a neighbour... and enlists the help of the local corrupt law officials in his plan. And the punishment for such a crime is... well, look at the title.
The Stoning Of Soraya M, as told by Soraya's aunt after the event to a journalist, is one of the hardest films to watch that I've seen in many a moon. Throughout, the sense of injustice and frustration at such an unfair situation makes you want to scream, and the uncomfortableness factor is moved up about 50 notches at the stoning itself... when everyone, from Soraya's sons to her own father takes it in turns to chuck rocks at her while she's half buried in the soil. Of course, the injuries are graphically displayed... Making this possibly the most upsetting final act since Jesus's fate was sealed in The Passion Of The Christ. Both are extended slow deaths where nothing is left to the imagination, so make sure you're mentally prepared before submitting yourself to such a brutal experience.
Brilliantly acted, and echoing with the ring of truth, as the epilogue reminds us: this sort of barbarism is still taking place all over the world. We may THINK we're civilised, but incidences like this prove we still have a LONG way to go. Disgraceful. 7/10
They say it themselves: If you're accused of having an affair, and you're a woman, it's not up to them to prove you're guilty, but for you to establish your innocence. Of course with men, it's the other way around. You've bore your violent husband two girls and two boys and been married to him for twenty years. Suddenly one day, he decides to hitch up with a 14 year old girl instead. That's gratitude for you. But you won't give him a divorce, due to the fact it would leave you virtually penniless. So, he does the only thing a nasty bastard could do... he makes up a cock and bull story about you having an affair with a neighbour... and enlists the help of the local corrupt law officials in his plan. And the punishment for such a crime is... well, look at the title.
The Stoning Of Soraya M, as told by Soraya's aunt after the event to a journalist, is one of the hardest films to watch that I've seen in many a moon. Throughout, the sense of injustice and frustration at such an unfair situation makes you want to scream, and the uncomfortableness factor is moved up about 50 notches at the stoning itself... when everyone, from Soraya's sons to her own father takes it in turns to chuck rocks at her while she's half buried in the soil. Of course, the injuries are graphically displayed... Making this possibly the most upsetting final act since Jesus's fate was sealed in The Passion Of The Christ. Both are extended slow deaths where nothing is left to the imagination, so make sure you're mentally prepared before submitting yourself to such a brutal experience.
Brilliantly acted, and echoing with the ring of truth, as the epilogue reminds us: this sort of barbarism is still taking place all over the world. We may THINK we're civilised, but incidences like this prove we still have a LONG way to go. Disgraceful. 7/10
Beautifully Raw....
ateal249015 March 2012
I must begin with explaining that I have an extraordinarily high tolerance for graphic imaging. I've seen "A Serbian Film", "Antichrist", and the "Human Centipede"....non of which caused me to feel sick to my stomach.
"The Stoning of Soraya M." crushed me from the inside out. The sorrow that flows from the women in this film will follow you for the rest of your days. You'll see one particular scene (hint: its in the title) in your dreams. This film doesn't allow the viewer to choose between crying and having their stomachs flipped twelve times around; the viewer will experience both...to an extreme.
The plot is relatively simple. I've decided makes this film so much better. You don't have to try to keep up with a thousand mini-plots. You just have to try to stomach the main event.If you make it all the way through the last scene, take a moment to remember the message that came across your screen before the first scene takes off...."based on a true story."
"The Stoning of Soraya M." crushed me from the inside out. The sorrow that flows from the women in this film will follow you for the rest of your days. You'll see one particular scene (hint: its in the title) in your dreams. This film doesn't allow the viewer to choose between crying and having their stomachs flipped twelve times around; the viewer will experience both...to an extreme.
The plot is relatively simple. I've decided makes this film so much better. You don't have to try to keep up with a thousand mini-plots. You just have to try to stomach the main event.If you make it all the way through the last scene, take a moment to remember the message that came across your screen before the first scene takes off...."based on a true story."
Too Brutal for Words...
ClaytonDavis10 December 2009
Shohreh Aghdashloo heads up this tragic and ferocious film, The Stoning of Soraya M.. Co-starring Jim Caviezel and Mozhan Marno in the title role, the film tells the story of a woman placed in an arranged marriage who's endures abuse only to have her life end tragically. Aghdashloo who plays Zahra, Soraya's aunt, tells the story to a man who's car breaks down in her village.
The film is carried by the performance of Shohreh Agdashloo, who arguably should have won an Oscar for her stunning work in House of Sand and Fog. The narrative, however, is so violent, brutal, and completely chilling, it's actually off-putting to the viewer. As we watch this woman endure this torment and abuse from her husband and even her children, all before even the stoning occurs, it becomes a bit too much for audiences to handle.
This is based on a true story and in many ways, it needed to be told. Although, if you're an educated person, you would know the woman's battle in the middle east (and of course, right here on our main land sometimes too) but the way director Cyrus Nowrasteh presents the material is terrifying. Getting the viewer's attention is the easiest task when performing such an act of honesty and raw natural spirit demonstrated by Aghdashloo and Marno. Those two are brilliant in their respective roles.
The film is gripping and intense with a heart-wrenching third act but it's so vicious, you might need to disengage from the cinematic experience just give yourself a dose of reality, whatever your reality may be. The score and cinematography are superb and of course, the performances are as powerful as they are distressing.
If you can stomach the film, it's definitely worth a watch. But don't look for any happy endings here. You won't find it.
**½/****
The film is carried by the performance of Shohreh Agdashloo, who arguably should have won an Oscar for her stunning work in House of Sand and Fog. The narrative, however, is so violent, brutal, and completely chilling, it's actually off-putting to the viewer. As we watch this woman endure this torment and abuse from her husband and even her children, all before even the stoning occurs, it becomes a bit too much for audiences to handle.
This is based on a true story and in many ways, it needed to be told. Although, if you're an educated person, you would know the woman's battle in the middle east (and of course, right here on our main land sometimes too) but the way director Cyrus Nowrasteh presents the material is terrifying. Getting the viewer's attention is the easiest task when performing such an act of honesty and raw natural spirit demonstrated by Aghdashloo and Marno. Those two are brilliant in their respective roles.
The film is gripping and intense with a heart-wrenching third act but it's so vicious, you might need to disengage from the cinematic experience just give yourself a dose of reality, whatever your reality may be. The score and cinematography are superb and of course, the performances are as powerful as they are distressing.
If you can stomach the film, it's definitely worth a watch. But don't look for any happy endings here. You won't find it.
**½/****
wrenching and realistic
yellowrosesaregrowlingin22 April 2009
Thirty minutes into this film you completely forget you are watching a movie. You are THERE, plain and simple. It's a lot like United 93 in that sense ... realistic, wrenching, and heartbreaking, but something you have to experience. It may be too visceral for critics (also like United 93), but film lovers should definitely seek it out. The ending is not supposed to be a surprise ... we know it is inevitable, and that creates a deep empathy for the character and the injustice she experiences. Yes there are more than a few flaws here. Sometimes the score becomes intrusive and there are some lines that don't work. But if audience involvement is any indication, this is an unqualified success.
hard to watch but worthwhile
SnoopyStyle5 November 2014
In 1986, Sahebjam is Parisian journalist who is driving to the border. His car breaks down in a remote desolate village Kupayeh, Iran. He is approached by Zahra (Shohreh Aghdashloo) who tells him about the tyrannical treatment of her niece Soraya by the men in power. The Mullah is a former criminal. His former jailer Ali blackmails him to force Ali's wife Soraya accept being discarded while Ali gets a new wife. Meanwhile Soraya will become the Mullah's temporary wife or a holy whore. Zahra stops the Allah as Soraya reveals that Ali beats her. Ali has made a deal with a rich doctor about to be executed to save his life and marry his 14 year old daughter.
This is one depressing, horrific drama. It's like the light of humanity can't penetrate this movie. It's a movie where I want to scream at the screen. The movie is hard to watch which culminates in one of the toughest scenes around. The stoning is scarier than any horror movie. It is shocking and incredibly hard to take. However it's worthwhile to see because simply reading about it doesn't deliver the true brutality.
This is one depressing, horrific drama. It's like the light of humanity can't penetrate this movie. It's a movie where I want to scream at the screen. The movie is hard to watch which culminates in one of the toughest scenes around. The stoning is scarier than any horror movie. It is shocking and incredibly hard to take. However it's worthwhile to see because simply reading about it doesn't deliver the true brutality.
An awful film about an important issue
foxes419 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Minor spoilers ahead, though I think you'll find they don't ruin much.
I got back from a screening of this at Beloit College and I couldn't have been more disappointed. It is indecent that such an important issue as women's rights was represented by a very poor film. Predictably, the film depicts the events leading up to the stoning of Soraya M., a young Iranian woman living in a small rural village. Told afterwards by her aunt Zahra to a supposedly French journalist, the story is hamstrung by two-dimensional characters, clichéd dialogue and events, and absurd melodrama. Essentially, Soraya's husband Ali is in love with a fourteen year-old girl from the city, and is desperate to get rid of his wife at all costs. After rather lackluster attempts at a divorce fall short, he enlists the help of the shady town holy man, the persuadable mayor, and Hashem, the widower Soraya cleans and cooks for. The plot is painfully, obviously formed. The wooden Ali (who inexplicably drives a valuable early 70s Chevy Camaro around the town) strong arms Hashem into fabricating a Soraya's adultery, thus condemning her to death. Lacking subtly throughout, the film seems to realize its mistake at the end where the audience is bludgeoned by the visceral, drawn out stoning which tries to drive home its message. The death scene is a farce. In slow motion, Soraya walks towards the hole dug for her. Wearing white (of course) she is bloodied over and over in slow motion by her husband and his cronies, all while Zahra throws herself repeatedly on the ground in anguish-also in slow motion. I was left sickened by the death; not because of the heinous yet highly anticipated way in which her sentence was assured, but because she died in a film which ultimately failed to portray the real crime in the justice system.
Compassion is hard to come by for characters who serve few purposes. Ali is always smiling sadistically or yelling. Zahra is always looking mournful or occasionally angry. Resolute determination is one of the few emotions Soraya ever portrays throughout the film, and the stoning is that much more disturbing because it happens to and is perpetrated by characters that were never human to begin with. The film is supposed to show the dehumanization of the people it depicts, but the stagnation of everyone in the film undermines this goal, and without dynamic characters, the movie's ending (which is revealed by the title of the film) fails in achieving the impact it sought. Clichéd elements, like Ali announcing the day after the stoning that he's not going to marry the fourteen-year-old girl after all, or Zahra celebrating the journalist's escape from the town with the record of the story by throwing her arms into the air and looking up to the sky (that camera) yelling "Now the whole world will know!" The attempts were always prodding the audience without deftness or delicacy. Soraya's hallucination during the stoning of walking through a field of grass with her daughters, filmed in sepia, was painfully reminiscent of Russell Crowe's death in Gladiator almost a decade before. Ultimately, any attempts at levity were lost through predictability, stiffness, and a score that maddeningly rose and fell with any emotions the actors were supposed to be portraying, brutally ending any attempted nuance the director tried to include. I wanted to like this film, but it was truly saddening that an issue like this was portrayed by a film of such low quality.
I got back from a screening of this at Beloit College and I couldn't have been more disappointed. It is indecent that such an important issue as women's rights was represented by a very poor film. Predictably, the film depicts the events leading up to the stoning of Soraya M., a young Iranian woman living in a small rural village. Told afterwards by her aunt Zahra to a supposedly French journalist, the story is hamstrung by two-dimensional characters, clichéd dialogue and events, and absurd melodrama. Essentially, Soraya's husband Ali is in love with a fourteen year-old girl from the city, and is desperate to get rid of his wife at all costs. After rather lackluster attempts at a divorce fall short, he enlists the help of the shady town holy man, the persuadable mayor, and Hashem, the widower Soraya cleans and cooks for. The plot is painfully, obviously formed. The wooden Ali (who inexplicably drives a valuable early 70s Chevy Camaro around the town) strong arms Hashem into fabricating a Soraya's adultery, thus condemning her to death. Lacking subtly throughout, the film seems to realize its mistake at the end where the audience is bludgeoned by the visceral, drawn out stoning which tries to drive home its message. The death scene is a farce. In slow motion, Soraya walks towards the hole dug for her. Wearing white (of course) she is bloodied over and over in slow motion by her husband and his cronies, all while Zahra throws herself repeatedly on the ground in anguish-also in slow motion. I was left sickened by the death; not because of the heinous yet highly anticipated way in which her sentence was assured, but because she died in a film which ultimately failed to portray the real crime in the justice system.
Compassion is hard to come by for characters who serve few purposes. Ali is always smiling sadistically or yelling. Zahra is always looking mournful or occasionally angry. Resolute determination is one of the few emotions Soraya ever portrays throughout the film, and the stoning is that much more disturbing because it happens to and is perpetrated by characters that were never human to begin with. The film is supposed to show the dehumanization of the people it depicts, but the stagnation of everyone in the film undermines this goal, and without dynamic characters, the movie's ending (which is revealed by the title of the film) fails in achieving the impact it sought. Clichéd elements, like Ali announcing the day after the stoning that he's not going to marry the fourteen-year-old girl after all, or Zahra celebrating the journalist's escape from the town with the record of the story by throwing her arms into the air and looking up to the sky (that camera) yelling "Now the whole world will know!" The attempts were always prodding the audience without deftness or delicacy. Soraya's hallucination during the stoning of walking through a field of grass with her daughters, filmed in sepia, was painfully reminiscent of Russell Crowe's death in Gladiator almost a decade before. Ultimately, any attempts at levity were lost through predictability, stiffness, and a score that maddeningly rose and fell with any emotions the actors were supposed to be portraying, brutally ending any attempted nuance the director tried to include. I wanted to like this film, but it was truly saddening that an issue like this was portrayed by a film of such low quality.
Brilliant, powerful, disturbing
Captain Ed15 June 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Soraya's husband Ali has tired of Soraya after having four children with her, and wants to marry the 14-year-old daughter of one of his prisoners. He can't afford two wives, so he demands a divorce from Soraya, who refuses for economic reasons. Instead, Ali conspires with the local mullah — a fraud who has to keep Ali from exposing him — to frame Soraya for infidelity. The "evidence" is laughably transparent, but as Soraya notes in the film, "voices of women do not matter here".
Her aunt Zahra, played by Shohreh Aghdashloo, provides the central voice for the film. It's mostly told in flashback as she explains what happened to the journalist who only came to town because his car broke down. Aghdashloo provides the voice of conscience and reason in a town gone mad, a village where Soraya's own father calls her an unprintable name and where her sons join in the stoning. Even with most of the film in subtitles, it is easy to follow and heartbreaking and enraging to watch.
The performances are universally excellent. Aghdashloo, an Iranian ex-patriate herself, brings Zahra and her defiance and despair to life. Mozhan Marno portrays Soraya beautifully, especially in the execution scene. Jim Caveziel plays the journalist, and while he doesn't get much screen time, he does well with what he has. The villagers are portrayed with surprising nuance. Navid Negahban provides a malevolent presence as Ali, while David Diaan's Ebrahim winds up being perhaps the worst of the villains — a good man who refuses to stop an injustice he knows to be happening.
It's brilliant, infuriating, sad, powerful, and oddly enough, ends on a somewhat uplifting note.
Her aunt Zahra, played by Shohreh Aghdashloo, provides the central voice for the film. It's mostly told in flashback as she explains what happened to the journalist who only came to town because his car broke down. Aghdashloo provides the voice of conscience and reason in a town gone mad, a village where Soraya's own father calls her an unprintable name and where her sons join in the stoning. Even with most of the film in subtitles, it is easy to follow and heartbreaking and enraging to watch.
The performances are universally excellent. Aghdashloo, an Iranian ex-patriate herself, brings Zahra and her defiance and despair to life. Mozhan Marno portrays Soraya beautifully, especially in the execution scene. Jim Caveziel plays the journalist, and while he doesn't get much screen time, he does well with what he has. The villagers are portrayed with surprising nuance. Navid Negahban provides a malevolent presence as Ali, while David Diaan's Ebrahim winds up being perhaps the worst of the villains — a good man who refuses to stop an injustice he knows to be happening.
It's brilliant, infuriating, sad, powerful, and oddly enough, ends on a somewhat uplifting note.
One of the best "true to reality" movies I have ever seen!
shams-aamer3 June 2010
"Don't act like the hypocrite, Who thinks he can conceal his wiles, While loudly quoting the Koran - Hafez, 14th Century Iranian Poet".
I have to admit, the direction, production and the casting of this movie was absolutely fabulous. The acting was remarkable, from the very first minute you get "attached" to the characters and actually begin to feel their emotions. Persian being one of the languages I speak, I could relate to the movie to a whole different level.
I couldn't help myself but cry; Islam was the most peaceful religions, yet polluted by lust and greed it has mutated in some what a barbaric per-historic practice. "Womanizing" is indeed the highest sin a Muslim can commit after "Shirk" (considering another Sovereign besides one God), but "Stoning" is the highest degree of punishment. Before this stage the "Mehram" (a man who is either a blood relative, or a husband) has the responsibility to take far less violent steps to try to stop this ill-practice. For instance, it starts with the husband not talking to his wife, then if she continues he would stop sharing his bed and so on and so forth. Under no circumstance, is the Man to physically hit a woman. And what about the Man in all this, just like a woman is to be stoned if all other methods fail (and if proved guilty), a Man is supposed to be lashed 70 times in front of a gathering.
I couldn't help myself but cry, and the last time I cried this hard was eight years back. The innocent women gets the stone while the man is set to roam free. Unfortunately, it is true, nine out of ten times the so called "Justice" is clouded with greed and lust hence...I would definitely recommend this movie to EVERYONE specially those involved with Human Rights, for all that it is about, its about bending the laws and values of a Religion for personal gains, which to me is probably the biggest sin, bigger than Zinah (womanizing) greater than Shirk.
Bless the Cast, Bless the Directors, and Bless everyone involved in the making of this movie; and most of all everyone who fall victims to human lust and greed. Bless us all!
I have to admit, the direction, production and the casting of this movie was absolutely fabulous. The acting was remarkable, from the very first minute you get "attached" to the characters and actually begin to feel their emotions. Persian being one of the languages I speak, I could relate to the movie to a whole different level.
I couldn't help myself but cry; Islam was the most peaceful religions, yet polluted by lust and greed it has mutated in some what a barbaric per-historic practice. "Womanizing" is indeed the highest sin a Muslim can commit after "Shirk" (considering another Sovereign besides one God), but "Stoning" is the highest degree of punishment. Before this stage the "Mehram" (a man who is either a blood relative, or a husband) has the responsibility to take far less violent steps to try to stop this ill-practice. For instance, it starts with the husband not talking to his wife, then if she continues he would stop sharing his bed and so on and so forth. Under no circumstance, is the Man to physically hit a woman. And what about the Man in all this, just like a woman is to be stoned if all other methods fail (and if proved guilty), a Man is supposed to be lashed 70 times in front of a gathering.
I couldn't help myself but cry, and the last time I cried this hard was eight years back. The innocent women gets the stone while the man is set to roam free. Unfortunately, it is true, nine out of ten times the so called "Justice" is clouded with greed and lust hence...I would definitely recommend this movie to EVERYONE specially those involved with Human Rights, for all that it is about, its about bending the laws and values of a Religion for personal gains, which to me is probably the biggest sin, bigger than Zinah (womanizing) greater than Shirk.
Bless the Cast, Bless the Directors, and Bless everyone involved in the making of this movie; and most of all everyone who fall victims to human lust and greed. Bless us all!
Amazing,powerful movie.
mojeda80526 June 2009
Amazing movie. Really powerful, it shines a light on today's reality, where there is injustice, and how some women are being treated. what happened to Soraya is still happening today, please watch this movie in support for the suffering of those women. Sometimes we do not appreciate where we live or the circumstances, we are born into, this movie helped me realize that i was very lucky. The story is of Soraya, a woman who is stoned to death unjustly by her own family. i would give this movie a 10/10 If you like it please recommend it to all your friends. The actor do a great job to really portray sentiments and feelings of the characters. The producer is the same as in the passion of the Christ and Braveheart.
Heart wrenching gut turning eye opening
bobby-derringer22 June 2009
AMAZING to drive thru traffic being stopped at Wilshire and Sepulveda (where there were over a thousand people dressed in green waving red, white and green Iranian flags on the corner) over to the premiere of this devastatingly powerful film...and then to leave Westwood later that night as see the street corners still crowded with enthusiastic supporters at 11 PM.
The post-film discussion with LAFF guest artist Khaled Hosseini (author of The Kite Runner), Iranian writer and scholar Reza Aslan, the film's director Cyrus Nowrasteh and the star of the film Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog) was PHENOMENAL. Check out: in The Wrap -- http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/tk-stoning-soraya-m_3794
Kudos to the cast that had the courage to make this movie. And the producers (or whomever) who had the foresight. Talk about timing.
The post-film discussion with LAFF guest artist Khaled Hosseini (author of The Kite Runner), Iranian writer and scholar Reza Aslan, the film's director Cyrus Nowrasteh and the star of the film Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog) was PHENOMENAL. Check out: in The Wrap -- http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/tk-stoning-soraya-m_3794
Kudos to the cast that had the courage to make this movie. And the producers (or whomever) who had the foresight. Talk about timing.
Not sure which is worse...the film or the reviews.
dontspamme-1113 March 2010
It's interesting to see a film where the majority of the reviews seem to be less about the film and more about the film's subject matter, as if they are so regaled by the subject matter that they forget to review the actual film itself.
As a film, The Stoning of Soraya M is sheer exploitation. The characters are one-dimensional with motivations as simple as their dialogue, and the acting is uneven at best. Marno is convincing as a woman struggling to survive in a society in which women have been reduced to the status of chattel – although her role is so simple that she is not expected to do very much. Aghdashloo is clearly the main attraction in the film as the fiery-tongue aunt who passive-aggressively rails against an injustice of a cultural magnitude. Everyone else, on the other hand, just come across as over-the-top caricatures - clearly a failure of the script and the direction.
Soraya's stoning scene is, as expected, completely gratuitous. We know she gets stoned – it's the name of the film. In fact, in spite of all the supposed 'outrage' about the topic of 'stoning', that is what the audience is paying to see. The film uses this to its advantage by turning Soraya's stoning scene into a long and graphic torture porn. It's used to climax the film and the audience, as if this kind of voyeurism is perfectly palatable if you can attach some sketchy politics to why it is shown.
And politics is what this film is really about, because it's impossible to divorce the film from the contemporary political climate of 'Islamophobia', national insecurities and infinite war justified in part through rhetoric of 'liberation' that serves as the context of its release - which is what the filmmakers are counting on. It is why so many commentators and reviewers read this film as if it was a documentary rather than a fictionalized narrative adapted from a book that was supposedly based on a second-hand account of an incident which reportedly occurred some 20 years ago.
'Stoning' has always been a controversial practice in Iran, even when it was introduced in Iran through its Islamic penal code in 1983. It has already been suspended for almost a decade by the Iranian judiciary, who are now contemplating whether the practice should be outlawed altogether. It's an issue that has generated enormous national debates, almost akin to how some deeply divisive issues, like capital punishment or abortion, are taken up in countries like the US, with some members of the clergy in Iran having spoken out to condemn the practice. Of course, this is not to imply that the current Islamic Republic is some sort of paragon of international human rights. That people can be legally punished for supposed 'moral crimes' like 'adultery', 'promiscuity', or homosexuality, should be seen as an inherent violation of humanity.
But this film does not aim to educate. It aims to entertain by sensationalizing the sight of a women buried from the waist down and used as a human piñata - something that might just as easily be a random scene in any run-of-the-mill Hollywood budget horror flick. It also aims to mobilize - and here is where it is most unethical - by appealing to a dodgy liberal sense of ethics with a dash of ignorance about modernity's 'other' that can be aligned with certain political constituencies in 'the West' that, much like the antagonists in this film, already place differential values on human life by their very actions and words.
As a film, The Stoning of Soraya M is sheer exploitation. The characters are one-dimensional with motivations as simple as their dialogue, and the acting is uneven at best. Marno is convincing as a woman struggling to survive in a society in which women have been reduced to the status of chattel – although her role is so simple that she is not expected to do very much. Aghdashloo is clearly the main attraction in the film as the fiery-tongue aunt who passive-aggressively rails against an injustice of a cultural magnitude. Everyone else, on the other hand, just come across as over-the-top caricatures - clearly a failure of the script and the direction.
Soraya's stoning scene is, as expected, completely gratuitous. We know she gets stoned – it's the name of the film. In fact, in spite of all the supposed 'outrage' about the topic of 'stoning', that is what the audience is paying to see. The film uses this to its advantage by turning Soraya's stoning scene into a long and graphic torture porn. It's used to climax the film and the audience, as if this kind of voyeurism is perfectly palatable if you can attach some sketchy politics to why it is shown.
And politics is what this film is really about, because it's impossible to divorce the film from the contemporary political climate of 'Islamophobia', national insecurities and infinite war justified in part through rhetoric of 'liberation' that serves as the context of its release - which is what the filmmakers are counting on. It is why so many commentators and reviewers read this film as if it was a documentary rather than a fictionalized narrative adapted from a book that was supposedly based on a second-hand account of an incident which reportedly occurred some 20 years ago.
'Stoning' has always been a controversial practice in Iran, even when it was introduced in Iran through its Islamic penal code in 1983. It has already been suspended for almost a decade by the Iranian judiciary, who are now contemplating whether the practice should be outlawed altogether. It's an issue that has generated enormous national debates, almost akin to how some deeply divisive issues, like capital punishment or abortion, are taken up in countries like the US, with some members of the clergy in Iran having spoken out to condemn the practice. Of course, this is not to imply that the current Islamic Republic is some sort of paragon of international human rights. That people can be legally punished for supposed 'moral crimes' like 'adultery', 'promiscuity', or homosexuality, should be seen as an inherent violation of humanity.
But this film does not aim to educate. It aims to entertain by sensationalizing the sight of a women buried from the waist down and used as a human piñata - something that might just as easily be a random scene in any run-of-the-mill Hollywood budget horror flick. It also aims to mobilize - and here is where it is most unethical - by appealing to a dodgy liberal sense of ethics with a dash of ignorance about modernity's 'other' that can be aligned with certain political constituencies in 'the West' that, much like the antagonists in this film, already place differential values on human life by their very actions and words.
Difficult issue to deal with such a mediocre film
afdiazr6 April 2010
We have to face the fact that most of the praise for this movie comes from the brilliantly filmed stoning sequence itself. It is truly gripping and sad, even though it doesn't come close to what a real martyrdom like this looks like. For me that part of the film did the trick. But it is not the only important issue we have to confront. Seems to me as though director Cyrus Nowrasteh was far too keen on getting to the execution of Soraya, while leaving the plotting against her almost untouched and played like a soap-opera (even his camera angles are quite uninspired when you compare them to what he does during the actual stoning). And the conspiracy against Soraya is as important as her sacrifice, that is the core of this tragic story: why and how. In the end we feel really moved by her horrible death, but there is no deep study into her surroundings and the people she shared the village with. Her husband comes off as a James Bond villain instead of a real person totally void of compassion and filled with self-interest. In Nowrasteh's mind, her husband is evil the way Darth Vader is evil, but we never really see him as a human being deprived of emotions. He's just there for us to hate. It is a real pleasure to watch Mozhan Marnò's performance as Soraya, as her eyes and dignity reveal so much about the nature of a woman we will never know for real: a mother, a daughter and a humble and pure citizen. Shorheh Aghdashloo is quite a powerful force and drives our fears and wrath as an audience, all pointed towards these self-centered people who end up killing a woman just because she is a woman and an inconvenience. Make no mistake: you will feel moved. It is impossible not to be affected by the subject matter. But the film lacks vitality and a better study of the factors that led to Soraya's demise.
...
furkanasya14 October 2018
A True Story
rihanna-2195716 May 2020
I'm sorry to say I'm not so impressed by this movie but that comes from living in Iran for most of my life .Violence, Hanging, Injustice is not a surprise to this community. It was so deep and heart breaking and it kept reminding me of many sorayas who never have been heard whose stories have been buried with themselves. So the only highlight was that somehow soraya could send her voice out!
I think the whole point is us to care, because the story is told in the title it self! it's still happening of course in new formats.it's on us to not keep silent because silence here equals to violence.
A Painful Movie That Ultimately Becomes A Brutal Movie
sddavis6312 July 2012
This is, almost from the start, a painful movie, which by the end becomes an absolutely brutal movie and is almost all the way through a very frightening movie. Set during immediate post-revolutionary Iran, religious fervour (which has little to do with religion and almost everything to do with fervour) is running rampant. In the midst of that maelstrom, an already abusive husband decides that he wants to divorce his wife so that he can take up with another woman. But then he realizes that he'll have to support her, and so he concocts a story accusing her of adultery - the penalty for which is stoning. We watch as the husband engineers rumours and innuendo against his wife; we watch as the whispers become shouts and as suspicion becomes rage; we watch as almost an entire village turns against a woman that they all seem to know is innocent but whom they nevertheless choose to condemn, almost as if this warped action will prove their worthiness to God.
It's a brilliant performance from Mozhan Marno as the accused and condemned Soraya. She knows that she's done nothing wrong; she has an almost naive conviction that eventually people will realize that. And yet it's clear that from the beginning this cannot be stopped. The momentum is too great; there's no way to put an end to it even if there was a desire to.
In the end this becomes very graphic and bloody. It does, indeed, offer a brutal depiction of a stoning, and it pulls no punches as we watch a bloodied Soraya slowly die under the barrage of rocks thrown at her. As a viewer, you're left with a queasy stomach in stunned silence. In a way, although obviously the movies are very different, this reminded me just a little bit of "The Passion Of The Christ" - the bloodiness and inevitability of the end. Those who are remotely uneasy about bloodiness in a movie will want to avoid the last half hour of this. It is not for the feint of heart.
The story is true - based on a book by a French-Iranian reporter played by James Caviezel. As the movie opens, he shows up in town on the day after the stoning needing his car repaired. The story is related to him and unfolds for us through the witness of Soraya's aunt (Shohreh Aghdashloo). As the movie ends, the reporter has to desperately escape the town as he's chased by a mob wanting to prevent him from smuggling the story to the outside world.
This movie achieves a delicate balancing act. It shows the dangers of religious extremism, but doesn't come across as anti-Islam. Indeed, Islam is portrayed fairly here, Soraya herself and her aunt being faithful Muslims, who point out to the men their betrayal of Islam in what they're doing. It would have been easy to turn this into an anti- Muslim diatribe. It managed not to turn into that, becoming a critique, perhaps, of culture, and of the ability for less than honourable people to use religion for their own unworthy ends. (8/10)
It's a brilliant performance from Mozhan Marno as the accused and condemned Soraya. She knows that she's done nothing wrong; she has an almost naive conviction that eventually people will realize that. And yet it's clear that from the beginning this cannot be stopped. The momentum is too great; there's no way to put an end to it even if there was a desire to.
In the end this becomes very graphic and bloody. It does, indeed, offer a brutal depiction of a stoning, and it pulls no punches as we watch a bloodied Soraya slowly die under the barrage of rocks thrown at her. As a viewer, you're left with a queasy stomach in stunned silence. In a way, although obviously the movies are very different, this reminded me just a little bit of "The Passion Of The Christ" - the bloodiness and inevitability of the end. Those who are remotely uneasy about bloodiness in a movie will want to avoid the last half hour of this. It is not for the feint of heart.
The story is true - based on a book by a French-Iranian reporter played by James Caviezel. As the movie opens, he shows up in town on the day after the stoning needing his car repaired. The story is related to him and unfolds for us through the witness of Soraya's aunt (Shohreh Aghdashloo). As the movie ends, the reporter has to desperately escape the town as he's chased by a mob wanting to prevent him from smuggling the story to the outside world.
This movie achieves a delicate balancing act. It shows the dangers of religious extremism, but doesn't come across as anti-Islam. Indeed, Islam is portrayed fairly here, Soraya herself and her aunt being faithful Muslims, who point out to the men their betrayal of Islam in what they're doing. It would have been easy to turn this into an anti- Muslim diatribe. It managed not to turn into that, becoming a critique, perhaps, of culture, and of the ability for less than honourable people to use religion for their own unworthy ends. (8/10)
I'm not sure what to say..
SameerAls7 September 2018
Some reviewers said that these things doesn't happen in Iran and it's the director's fault of showing some inaccuracies in the movie. I don't know where these kinds of punishments happened but unfortunately it did happened somewhere, i have read about them before some years. As for the movie, my eyes was almost filled with tears when i saw Soraya getting stoned.
why they don't at least research about a subject before making a movie about it?
meh_baronet13 February 2013
almost the worst movie I've seen in ages! not talking about the poor atmosphere and poor acting which are ridiculously trying to show black/white characters,but also this movie lacks reason. as a lawyer who has master degree in criminal law,I should say real stoning has almost no similarity with what we see in this movie.of course I'm against this humiliating punishment,but it doesn't mean I approve all of the lies in this movie about Islamic rules. just as a little example,in the movie it's said Soraya should bring 4 witnesses in order to prove her innocence!blah blah!in Iran like any other place I know,it's to the complainant (and in criminal cases the court also) to prove somebody's guiltiness. just an advice to the director:just research before making a movie about a subject.that's what every professional director does.refer to article 63 to 97 of the Islamic punishment code of Iran.it's even available online! the weakness points of this movie are almost uncountable!did you notice all of the men are bad?you can't at least find one good man there.on the other hand Soraya is flawless in this ugly world and Zahra(Shohreh Aghdashloo who has played her weakest role ever) is the brave woman who's trying to help her.what's the point of all of these feminism? I almost forgot to say:in some scenes I couldn't stop laughing when I heard Soraya speaking Persian with English accent about the very obvious goals of the movie which were supposed to impress the audience!
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