Hitting limited theaters this weekend is the true and eye-opening story of a modern-day woman who was tragically stoned to death in Iran after she was falsely accused and deemed guilty of adultery.
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| Hitting limited theaters this weekend is the true and eye-opening story of a modern-day woman who was tragically stoned to death in Iran after she was falsely accused and deemed guilty of adultery. |
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Produced by the man behind “Braveheart” and “The Passion of the Christ” and based on the book of the same name, “The Stoning of Soraya M.” was inspired by true events that took place in 1986 and comes out as the current strife plaguing a deeply divided Iran has caught the world's attention.
On Friday, foreign ministers from Group of Eight countries said they deplored post-election violence in Iran and urged Tehran authorities to ensure that the outcome of Iran's disputed election reflects the will of the Iranian people.
"We express our solidarity with those who have suffered repression while peacefully demonstrating and urge Iran to respect human rights, including freedom of expression," the ministers said in a statement.
Though 98 percent of Iran's population is Muslim (89 percent Shia, 9 percent Sunni), the current situation has revealed an Iran that is more diverse than much of the world has known it to be - especially among those who tend to see current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the face of the Islamic republic.
And, as "The Stoning of Soraya M." does, the crisis in Iran reveals that in times where people believe there to be grave injustices, someone is sure to stand up and cry out.
“’The Stoning of Soraya M.’ is a very universal story to me,” says producer Steve McEveety, who worked for many years at Mel Gibson’s Icon Productions.
The story of Soraya centers around her aunt, Zahara, played by Academy Award nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo, who reveals Soraya's tragic story to a French journalist that happens to become stranded in her village after his car breaks down.
In her effort to reveal Soraya’s story to people beyond her village, Zahara carefully yet boldly approaches the journalist, played by Jim Caviezel (“The Passion of the Christ”), and tells of the scheming, lies and deceit that ultimately led to Soraya’s stoning just the day before he arrived.
“At its heart, this movie is a human drama filled with tension, peril and hope – but it is also a true story that I felt strongly had to be told, a story the whole world needs to know,” says director Cyrus Nowrasteh, who is best known for his involvement in the controversial docudrama “The Path to 9/11.”
Though some might feel the movie is critical of Islamic law – which allows stoning as a form of punishment – and therefore of Islam, producer McEveety says many have found the film to be very pro-Muslim, if anything.
“Soraya is a wonderful example of a nebulous Muslim person. She chooses her god. She chooses her faith. She’s respectful. She’s honest. She’s serving. She’s heroic in terms of accepting the injustice done to her. And her last words, her last acknowledgments on earth are to her god,” he says.
“I think it depends on who you think is representing the Muslim world in this movie. I don’t think it’s the mullah in this movie or the mayor. I think it’s Soraya, myself,” adds McEveety, who is Catholic.
The producer also notes that while stoning is allowed under Islamic law, its practice is ultimately up to the country’s government.
Currently, six out of fifty-two Muslim-majority countries in the world use stoning as a legally-sanctioned form of punishment – Afghanistan, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. In Nigeria, where Christians are mostly in the south and Muslims are mostly in the north, about one-third of the country’s 36 states permit stoning.
