THE STONING OF SORAYA M. directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh, written by Nowrasteh and Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh, from the book by Freidoune Sahebjam, with Mozhan Marnó and Shohreh Aghdashloo. A Mongrel release. 116 minutes. Subtitled. Opens Friday (July 17). For venues, times and trailers, see Movies. Rating: NNN
Sometimes a slice of real life can be too terrible to make into a great work of art.[rssbreak]
Take The Stoning Of Soraya M. Something bad is happening, and nothing can stop it. There’ll be no twists and turns, no surprises. The good people stay good and the bad guys bad, and the film staggers relentlessly to its foregone conclusion.
It’s based on journalist Freidoune Sahebjam’s account of his chance alighting in a small Iranian village where a woman had been killed the day before.
Told from the point of view of the victim’s aunt Zahra (Shohreh Aghdashloo, Oscar-nominated for House Of Sand And Fog), the film tracks the events leading to Soraya’s murder. Her husband, Ali (Navid Negahban), wants to dump her for a younger woman, and when she won’t agree to a divorce, he involves the local mullah in a plot to convict her of adultery with a recent widower. Sentence? Death by stoning.
Thanks to an unfortunate title, we know what’s going to happen before we walk into the theatre, and it’s confirmed within the first 30 seconds. Ali is evil incarnate, one of those patriarchal power trippers who thrive under the regime of the ayatollahs. The mullah is hopelessly corrupt.
The stoning sequence is devastating, an extended scene of torture. There are slivers of ambiguity only in the relationship between Zahra and the ethically compromised village mayor and in the shame and regret experienced by Soraya’s sons. Otherwise, it’s all hopelessly stark.
That’s the problem with a film that so desperately wants to shed light on obvious injustice.
But the Stoning Of Soraya M. is well made – superbly acted, beautiful to look at. The events are meticulously recreated, and everyone on the planet should know that this kind of outrage occurs.
susanc@nowtoronto.com
