The Stoning Of Soraya M. + Its Impact

Soraya's Last Words

Last night I saw the compelling film, The Stoning of Soraya M. starring the Iranian-American actress Shorheh Aghdashloo and American actor Jim Caviezel, who is best known for playing the role of Jesus in The Passion of the Christ. The film was depicted from a true story based on the novel "The Stoning of Soraya M.: A True Story" by French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam, whom Caviezel plays (Watch the trailer below). In the story Soraya, the niece of Zahra (Played by Aghdashloo) is wrongly accused of adultery by her husband due to unruly circumstances of her husband. After the stoning, Zahra comes across Freidoune and shares the story and helps expose the problems of the Iranian village. These include the lack of women rights, unlawfulness, and power struggles that exist in the village that lead to the death of Soraya. To get more information about the movie and theater times, click here.

Stoning is something that has been around since the beginning of man. All three major religions practiced it at one point or another, though it is usually Muslim countries or countries that have Sharia law ruling that stoning is often still found in. In the case of Iran, it did not exist until it was made into a penal code in 1983. Death by stoning is carried out by the code for those who have committed adultery, male or female; though a majority of the victims are female. Iran's judiciary in 2008 claimed that it has suspended stoning and is surprisingly one of the few nations who have, though there is no exact proof of an official ending to it.

I left the movie theater emotionally drained and in tears. This film is not for everyone; the ending is very graphic and intense. This is the second time I remember seeing stoning in a film, the first time was in The Kite Runner, yet it was not as explicit. A woman was altered so much by the film that she suddenly fainted, just as I was exiting the theater with my friend. I encourage everyone to see this film, not because it is about Iran, but about the meaning: the lack of women rights and the things that still take place in the world today that we rarely get a glimpse of. Luckily, Iran has toned down its laws on stoning, though it is unfortunate to hear many other countries have not. I think seeing this film will remind people of the many things we are fortunate to have, and will cause people to break that "bubble" they live in, even if only for two hours. I would like to play devil's advocate for a moment and wonder, where is the tape recording of the interview? I really would like to hear it from Zahra's own words, but its unfortunate to say that the writer died the year before.

What do you think of the movie?