The Stoning of Soraya M. (2008)
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A journalist in a remote Iranian village must escape with his life to expose the brutal truth of a woman's execution.
The story
Stranded in the remote Iranian village of Kuhpayeh, a journalist is approached by Zahra, a woman with a harrowing tale to tell about her niece, Soraya, and the bloody circumstances of Soraya's death by stoning the previous day. The two sit down as Zahra recounts the story to Freidoune, who records the conversation. The journalist must escape with his life to tell the story to the rest of the world.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In the remote Iranian village of Kuhpayeh, a journalist named Freidoune Sahebjam is approached by Zahra, who recounts the story of her niece Soraya's death by stoning. Soraya was accused of adultery by her abusive husband, Ali, who wanted to marry a 14-year-old girl and avoid paying child support. Ali, with the help of a mullah and corrupt village authorities, manipulated a local widower into providing a false testimony of infidelity. Soraya was convicted and stoned to death in a public ceremony. In the present, the widower admits he lied to the journalist. As Freidoune attempts to leave, the mullah orders a Revolutionary Guard to seize and destroy his tapes. However, Zahra appears with the true tape, and the journalist escapes, ensuring the world learns of the injustice.
- First release year
- 2008
- Runtime (minutes)
- 116
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- Persian; English
- Directors
- Cyrus Nowrasteh
- Writers
- Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh · screenplay; Cyrus Nowrasteh · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Mozhan Marnò · Soraya Manutchehri; Shohreh Aghdashloo · Zahra; Jim Caviezel · Freidoune Sahebjam; Parviz Sayyad · Hashem; Vida Ghahremani · Mrs. Massoud; Navid Negahban · Ali; Vachik Mangassarian · Morteza Ramazani, Soraya's father; Bita Sheibani · Leila
- Genres
- drama
- Themes
- human rights; violence against women; capital punishment; injustice
- Tone and mood
- heavy-handed; harrowing
- Premise and plot tags
- based on actual events; based on non-fiction book; drama
- Source material / true-story basis
- La Femme Lapidée by Freidoune Sahebjam
- Reception
- The film received generally mixed reviews, with critics noting it struggled to balance its heavy-handed approach with its powerful subject matter.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 58% · review count: 85; Metacritic · score: 50 · scale: 100 · review count: 20
- Production trivia
- The book it is adapted from has been banned in Iran.; The film's domestic gross was $636,246.; The film received additional financing from Blackwater founder Erik Prince.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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