A Particularly Appalling Application of Sharia Law in Stoning of Soraya M.

A A A Comments (9) By Vadim Rizov Wednesday, Jun 24 2009

MPower Pictures

The women of Soraya M.

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The Stoning of Soraya M.
Directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh
Roadside Attractions
Opens June 26

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For those ambivalent about whether stoning women to death is a cruel punishment or not, here's The Stoning Of Soraya M., a dutifully plodding, if watchable, dramatization of a real, particularly appalling application of sharia law in small-town Iran. Soraya (Mozhan Marnò) refuses to divorce abusive husband Ali (Navid Negahban), because he won't leave her enough money to feed her children, so he teams up with their village's mullah to start a rumor that she's committing adultery, punishable by death. Events take their inevitable course, with Soraya's BFF (played by Shohreh Aghdashloo) narrating, and Soraya gets to live out the title in a bloody and prolonged sequence reminiscent of The Passion of the Christ—which is appropriate, since Jim Caviezel pops up here, speaking creditable Farsi as the journalist who blows the whole thing up. Director Cyrus Nowrasteh gives the proceedings more flair than is usual for the explicitly didactic: If his ideas (the camera rocketing on the stones thrown at Soroya, as if they were Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' arrows all over again) are bad, at least he's trying. But this is basically self-congratulatory fare for people who feel more "politically conscious" when reminded that women in the Islamic world can have it rough. Right now, you're better off just watching the news.

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Nicka800 12/19/2010 7:23:00 PM

Vadim, Your complete contempt for the Iranian people and your lack of compassion are sickening. This movie, as much as it is a reflection on Sharia law, is also about the state of affairs in Iran. How you ever came to work for the New York Times is puzzling to me. I guess it makes sense. Being a film critic never was real work
66 12/07/2010 2:11:00 AM

Vadim Rizov you are a souless person.
Mitch Brannon 10/15/2010 8:04:00 AM

"...women in the Islamic world can have it rough." Mr. Rizov, is that honestly your take on this? What a depressing, cynical opinion. Shame on you. For those of you who always questioned, and want to truly find out what their favorite movie critic thinks, read their reviews on this movie. It can be quite telling. Mr. Rizov, I hope you never have it so "rough" as Soraya M.
Mitch Brannon 10/15/2010 8:04:00 AM

"...women in the Islamic world can have it rough." Mr. Rizov, is that honestly your take on this? What a depressing, cynical opinion. Shame on you. For those of you who always questioned, and want to truly find out what their favorite movie critic thinks, read their reviews on this movie. It can be quite telling. Mr. Rizov, I hope you never have it so "rough" as Soraya M.
Lilly 07/25/2010 11:08:00 AM

Is it ironic or just plain sad that the whole point of the movie was missed by the MALE critic here? It's quickly apparent that the forgettable name of said critic is completely divorced from the reality of the violence and torture inflicted on women and men across the world on a daily basis. The director - of Iranian descent -- took a chance on creating a movie based on the novel by the same name. Of course the movie would have to please Hollywood, how else would it get attention? Yes, the movie could have done more in showing a balanced view of Islam and worked to diffuse preexisting stereotypes against Muslims and I think more could have been done to highlight the fact that this event happened in one village -- but the fact remains Amnesty International reports can verify that stoning of women happens to this day. Check yesterday's headline on BBC -- it is a case of a women being put to death by stoning!
JRS 06/27/2010 8:39:00 PM

Odd, how unmoved the review is by this undeniably well-acted, viscerally stirring story. Rizov's catty glibness & faux-jaded contempt toward human suffering does not make him hiply cynical; it merely puts him in the unimpressive company of so many callow teenage bloggers, who mistakenly think that pathetic sarcasm toward everything passes for wit & worldliness. Had this been---rather than an Islamic woman accused of adultery in Iran---the tale of a closeted gay man in a small town in Georgia, lynched on suspicion of his orientation---the Voice would reflexively love it, label it a must-see for all right-thinking Americans, and hail the Oscar-worthy performances all around. As always, politics rules.
Aisha Russell 05/09/2010 8:13:00 AM

As human beings we should all be disturbed by the violence and utter terror we inflict on one another. I think it is incredibly devastating that women continue to be the targets of sexual and physical brutality day after day, year after year, century after century. Mob mentality must end now. And for those of you who are convinced that the United States is exempt from such horrific crimes against women, please watch Very Young Girls. Each day preteen girls are abducted and forced to live their lives as prostitutes, with little to no protection/helpful interference from the criminal justice system. Peace& love all the time
M. Carter 04/01/2010 6:55:00 PM

I'd agree that "The Stoning of Soraya M." has some serious, fairly glaring flaws, most obviously the lack of subtlety (particularly in the depiction of men as villains and women as helpless victims). The frame story involving the journalist is unnecessary, particularly the bit about the tape and the car stopping/miraculously starting at the LASTPOSSIBLESECOND. But I don't think that means the film is totally without merit. Overblown and overdramatized as it may be, "The Stoning of Soraya M." has the power to change the way some of us -- the ones who can stomach the stoning sequence -- see the world.
Justin 03/27/2010 7:34:00 AM

This is a movie review? Really?