The Stoning of Soraya M.

[joelozito]

An attempt to show us the horrific plight of women in an Islamic fundamentalist country ends up being almost too brutal to watch.

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[Daylightdon]

Show it to Harry Reid and Nancy P.
Perhaps a private screening maybe 12-15 showings!

[Francis]

To the reviewer,

I don't think you understand the film one bit. How can you write this film off as "snuff"? I took my girlfriend to see it and she hates violence in movies. I even recommended she leave during the stoning sequence so she wouldn't be too affected by it. However, she stayed for the entirety of the film and later expressed to me why she thought it necessary to show the stoning in its entirety. Imagine if we'd left the stoning up to the imagination, or even glazed over it? Would that be doing her cruel death justice?

I highly recommend this film for anyone even remotely interested in good film or activism. It will help bring to light issues that are being suppressed by those such as this reviewer who are ultimately fearful of harsh realities.

[Cinema Snob]

To the reviewer,

I don't think you understand the film one bit. How can you write this film off as "snuff"? I took my girlfriend to see it and she hates violence in movies. I even recommended she leave during the stoning sequence so she wouldn't be too affected by it. However, she stayed for the entirety of the film and later expressed to me why she thought it necessary to show the stoning in its entirety. Imagine if we'd left the stoning up to the imagination, or even glazed over it? Would that be doing her cruel death justice?

I highly recommend this film for anyone even remotely interested in good film or activism. It will help bring to light issues that are being suppressed by those such as this reviewer who are ultimately fearful of harsh realities.

Dear Francis,

I have no problem with violence in film but the stoning scene left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Do you think that I or anyone else does not realize that stoning a human being to death might be a bit gruesome?

Would you have criticized The Godfather for not being more graphic than it was? Does that make it any less of a great film?

If you saw a film about raping a child would you complain if you didn't see the act in graphic detail?

I don't fear what you refer to as "harsh realities". It's a silly argument to make because of your feelings about this topic.

Whether you and your girlfriend feel the need to use a film as a point of activism is irrelevant to the quality of a film. I'm a film reviewer, not an activism reviewer. I'm not hear to discuss the politics of it.

Stoning women = bad. I get it. So did everyone else who saw it and anyone who has half a brain. The problem is that the people who would need to be educated on this particular topic will never see the film so as an educational tool it is a zero. As a way to change the world it is a zero. It's a film.

I'm sorry if I offended your or your girlfriend's activist nature. We disagree about the quality of the film. Your opinion of it seems to be based on what the film is based upon rather than the quality of the film itself.

Thanks for writing, though.