'The Stoning of Soraya M.' – A Powerful, Must-See Film

As the world watches and waits for the political uprising in Iran to either succeed in toppling the brutal Khomeinist regime or be crushed by it, a movie by the name of The Stoning of Soraya M. opens in limited release today. Far from being your typical summer fun film fare, Soraya depicts the ugliest, most brutal side of human nature and one woman’s crusade to keep it from being swept under the rug.

Directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh (The Path to 9/11) and written by Nowrasteh and his wife Besy Giffen-Nowrasteh, Soraya is based on the 1995 non-fiction book of the same name by Freidoune Sahebjam. Soraya takes place after the Islamic revolution in Iran and centers around Soraya (played by Mozhan Marnò), a woman whose husband, Ali (played by Navid Negahban), has tired of her after 20 years of marriage and wishes to discard her for a younger woman. Actually, “younger” is an understatement, as Ali lusts after a 14-year-old girl. Soraya knows about Ali’s plans, but won’t agree to a divorce because she knows she will be unable to provide for her two young daughters (the two sons will stay with Ali, of course). Ali must then come up with another scheme for getting rid of his uncooperative wife, and he uses guile, cunning and good old-fashioned blackmail to get the key players in place for what is passed off as a religious cleansing rite.

Intricately involved in the plan to rid Ali of his wife are the Mullah (played by Ali Pourtash), Ebrahim, the Mayor (played by David Diaan), and Hashem, the village mechanic (played by Parviz Sayyad). When writing the script, the Nowrastehs stayed true to the real-life characters, but felt they needed to add shading to the characters of the men in order to more broadly reflect how different people react under extreme peer pressure and mob rule. “Frankly, we humanized many of the male characters to show their inner conflicts and dilemmas, whereas in the book they are all evil to the core,” said Cyrus. Each of these men has a reason for his complicity, and while some of their reasoning is almost understandable, it doesn’t make it any easier to accept. In fact, the entire village is swept up in this religious fervor, and the relish with which the village men (and even some of the women) take part in the repulsively violent proceedings is truly a window on the failings of mankind.

Because you know going in what will happen – Soraya is killed in a brutal “religious” stoning ritual on charges of adultery – much of the drama is in what takes place beforehand: seeing how the beautiful, kind, caring Soraya is set up for a fall from which there is no getting up. Her aunt Zahra (played by Shohreh Aghdashlooo) sees what is happening. although she doesn’t know specifics, she warns Soraya that some kind of plot is afoot, but Soraya refuses to believe that anyone would go to such trouble on her account. When she realizes, too late, what is happening, Soraya says, “So he’s finally done it. He’s gotten rid of me.” And she knows she is trapped: there is no escape.

Soraya is at her happiest when she is with her young daughters, and her greatest concern after discovering her own fate is what will happen to them. The tender scene where she says goodbye to them is in stark contrast to her final words with her sons – one of whom tells the other to “act like a man.”

The Mullah prepares for his part in the stoning as he gets his beard trimmed and, when he arrives at the pit, he has changed into a black robe and is wearing sunglasses – like some kind of medieval pop star. The grandstanding is quite sickening to behold.

The script is riveting and the cinematography is fabulous – the stark beauty of the mountain village underlining the bleak outlook on life for the women who live there. As Ali tells his sons, “This is a man’s world. Never forget that, boys.” In fact, such is the man’s world that Soraya’s elderly father turns against her too. He even gets the honor of casting the first stone.

As for the stoning scene itself (achieved by puppetry, stunt performers and CGI), it’s brutal, cruel and shocking. It’s hard to believe the director toned it down: “I didn’t want to have anyone mistake what they were seeing for standard, popcorn movie violence but I also didn’t want it to be so graphic that it overwhelmed the audience.” Nowrasteh added, “All I can tell you is that compared to what I saw and read [about real stonings], the scene in the movie is far less graphic than it could have been.” Be prepared for real tears, and not just during the stoning scene: I had to work hard to keep myself from breaking down completely. Throughout the film I could hear exclamations of disgust from other viewers (especially when God was invoked as a reason for what was happening), and the man two seats away from me was audibly sniffling.

Much of the importance of this film lies in the real-life bravery of Zahra and her determination to tell the story of what happened to her beloved niece. She not only endangers herself, but also journalist Feidoune Sahebjam (played by Jim Caviezel in a small but pivotal role). Their chance meeting turns into what is arguably the biggest story of his career, but he must dodge the mayor, the Mullah, and a couple of members of the Revolutionary Guard after speaking with Zahra. The question that remains, of course, is that if indeed “Islam” demands it” and “it’s God’s law,” why the attempt to hush it all up?

The cast is first rate, with everyone giving solid performances. Aghdashloo shines as Zahra, the fearless woman who will not rest until she does what she can to tell the world of the cruel injustice visited upon Soraya. Marnò plays Soraya with a haunting grace and underlying strength that, despite having all forces against her, can never truly be vanquished. John Denby’s score provides the proper mood throughout, while the photography and editing are also essential to the telling of the story. Except for the scenes where Zahra is telling Sahebjam her tale in English, the movie is in Farsi with English subtitles, which immerses the viewer in Soraya’s world more completely than would have happened had the movie been in English.

As I left the screening room and walked down 48th Street, I was in a daze. It was a beautiful summer evening in New York City and yet I wondered how I could enjoy it after seeing the stark reality of brutality that continues to exist against women (and some men). I walked by a movie set – not unusual in New York – and wondered about the movie being filmed. Was it a comedy? An action film? I’m not a movie or theater snob; I like fluffy entertainment as much as the next guy. You won’t often hear me saying, “This is an important film,” but I’m saying so now. I certainly don’t expect The Stoning of Soraya M. to outperform Transformers 2 at the box office, but it will haunt those who see it. As difficult as it is to watch, Soraya’s story must be told. If it can save lives, she will not have died in vain.

Due to the film’s graphic nature, I would not recommend it for anyone under 17 (hence the R rating).

Rated R (cruel and brutal violence); 1 hr 56 min