Film: The Stoning Of Soraya M.
Release date: 22nd October 2010
Certificate: 18
Running time: 116 mins
Director: Cyrus Nowrasteh
Starring: Shohreh Aghdashloo, Mozhan Marnò, Jim Caviezel, Navid Negahban, David Diann
Genre: Crime/Drama
Studio: High Fliers
Format: Cinema
Country: USA
The Stoning Of Soraya M. is based on the account of French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam, who, passing through an Iranian village, was told of the atrocious stoning of one of its female residents just 24 hours earlier. Its remake comes nearly twenty years after the release of Sahabjam’s book, but human rights activists claim up to fifty women were still in danger of stoning in 2010, despite Iranian officials asserting that stoning has been dropped by the penal code and these claims are simply being used as propaganda against their country.
After fathering four children with his wife Soraya, Ali now wants to marry the 14-year-old daughter of a condemned rich prisoner. However, his wife isn’t overly keen on the idea – knowing that without her husband, who is set to take their two boys away with him to the city, she would struggle to provide for their two young daughters.
With his wife unwilling to grant him a divorce – despite regular beatings and the pressure of religious figures within the village - Ali plots to set his wife up for “whispering and smiling” with another man, bribing and threatening villagers as he seeks to avoid having to pay support by ensuring his wife is sentenced to death by stoning, the punishment issued by Sharia Law for adultery…
The cinematography that opens the film, showing beautiful Iranian landscape, belies the terrors that lie within this country (even if it highlights how isolated women in this village are), and director Cyrus Nowrasteh wastes no time in arousing our emotions as we see a clearly upset elderly lady washing human bones in a stream, before being dismissed by the village’s men as “insane,” despite her distress.
The woman is Zahra, and she wants to tell a passing journalist about the horrors that took place in her village only the day previously. Her coarse voice only adding to the feeling of unease already stirred during the previous scenes.
Cyrus then allows the story to play itself out in its simplest terms – for the most part. There is no shift in tone after we’ve grown fond of characters through a contrived opening; instead we are immediately shown the unsavoury nature of the men who control this village and their intentions: Ali threatening the village’s Mullah (a fraudulent, in this case, religious cleric) so he will force his wife to agree to the divorce he desires. Few of the men show any conscience, and arguably the only one who does is the key witness in condemning Soraya to death. Here, women do their duty and step out of line at their peril.
Despite such a heavy-handed approach, the documentary-style approach to filming provides a sense of realism so vital to the retelling of a true story. Still, Cyrus cannot help but resort to a few Hollywood-esque techniques to force our emotions. Suddenly, in the midst of the melancholy, the director shifts to a scene showing Soraya happily playing with her daughters in a lush, almost CGI-like green, flowery field, completely contrasting the otherwise dusty, depressing village, or we see Ali watching over his wife from a high as he sets his plan into action – his intense eyes staring into the camera.
The performances are outstanding, particularly Navid Nagahban as Ali, whose menacing actions - turning his sons against their mother, with whom he’s quick to strike out against if she dares to vocalise her concerns – paint him as the archetypal villain, in a village of many (the village’s Mullah not above making sexual advances to a married woman). Mozhan Marno’s performance as Soraya is subtler, but no less affecting - particularly in the scenes where she prepares for her punishment. Her virtuous looks and restrained actions garner our sympathy as Ali plots and snarls, and her helpless situation is heart-wrenching. Shohreh Aghdashloo as Zahra, Soraya’s aunt, puts plenty of energy into her role as the voice of reason, but her character lacks merit given she’s allowed to confront and provoke the village’s men without reprimand when Soraya’s being subjected to such unfair punishment and the other women scurry around in silence cocooned in their black chadors.
The finale seems to build for an eternity, with the director keen to play on our knowledge of what is about to happen, and offering many false dawns of reprieve. When it finally arrives, the anxiety is palpable, and the scenes unflinchingly brutal – although the unexpected arrival of a colourful performance group, who subsequently provide an ominous drum build up to the stoning was unnecessary, and in all honesty distasteful, especially given we’d already bared witness to countless scenes of preparation, including the observation of very young boys collecting stones in wheelbarrows, which was far more powerful.
The picture makes some questionable assertions on men and Muslim religion as a whole in the Middle East, but given these heinous crimes do happen, and this is based on an actual event, you can forgive the filmmakers’ desires to paint this one black and white. However, whilst it’s undoubtedly moving, drawing attention to an important issue, a greater trust should have been afforded to viewers to understand the severity and potency of the facts without the uncomfortably superficial filmmaking tricks. DH
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