This
Persian language movie is adapted from the book written by a French Journalist
Freidoune Sahebjam in 1990 called “La Femme Lapidée”. This is a very powerful movie
presented by the makers of “Passion of the Christ”. In short this movie is a
dramatized version of a true story of killing a women by hitting her with
stones because her husband wants to get rid of her so that he can marry another
women. The movie plot is narrated by a character called Zahra played by Shohreh
Aghdashloo who narrates the whole back story that led to the stoning of her
niece, Soraya played by Mozhan Marnò, as she converse with a foreign journalist
played by James Caviezel. She wants the journalist to carry the story out of
the village and reveal the truth to the whole world. She wants him to take her
voice with him. The journalist listens her story of extremism and brutality
against a woman and records in his tape recorder. This movie presents the
complete scenario of the event depicting the taboos of Islam and the position
of women in a male dominated Islamic societies. This story makes you want to
change what’s going on out there in the world.
The
movie is set in a remote Iranian village called Kuhpayeh. A foreign journalist
gets stranded in the village due to his car failure. As he takes his car to the
local mechanic for repair, a peaky woman approaches him to tell a brutal story
about a stoning that took place a day earlier in the same village which seems
to be in so peace as of now. The mayor and mulla of the village appear who
start to ask about his whereabouts and even invites him with them for lunch or
tea. They call Zhara an insane lady and to ignore her. Surmised by the events
he chooses to rest in a peaceful café where he is again approached by Zhara. Though
he hesitates at the beginning, but after Zhara throws him a piece of human bone
wrapped in a paper he gets curious and follows the map in the wrapped paper. He
is still unwilling as he asks why he should he listen to her as she says that
the voice of women in this part of world doesn’t matter for which she urges him
to hear the story first to know.
The
story begins as Ali, Soraya's abusive husband who tries to get the village's
mullah to convince Soraya to grant him a divorce so that he can marry a
14-year-old girl. Ali is able to convince the mullah by making threats to tell
the rest of the village about his past as a convict. Mulla approaches Soraya
with accusations against her that she is ignoring her husband. He tells her
that Ali wants to marry other women and offers her some land, house and
furniture for divorce. He also proposes her to be his 'Sigeh',
a temporary wife in exchange for protection and monetary support for her and
her two daughters. Zhara barges in and stirs Soraya to refuse and also
threatens the Mulla that she will tell the entire village how evil his
intention were. The Mulla runs from there calling them witches and threatens
them that he shall take revenge in time. Zhara asks Soraya about her marriage,
if she keeps Ali happy and Soraya shows bruises in her chest due to Ali’s
brutality. Zhara suggests Soraya to divorce him, but Soraya would lose the
support and would be unable to provide for her children. Then Zhara asks
Soaraya about the girl Ali wants to marry. Mehri, a 14 years old daughter of a
rich father who has been sentenced to death for an unspecified crime. Ali's marriage to the teenager is
conditional on Ali's ability to save the girl's father. Ali hits Soraya for not
agreeing for his offer of divorce. Ali has also turned his sons against Soraya
as he wants them to be with him. He lures them with stories of big cities and
good food. Soraya escapes with her two daughters to Zhara’s house. Zhara once
again suggests for divorce but Soraya tells her story about how she was
exploited at young age when she was made to work for a man because her parents
couldn’t feed her. She says that she doesn’t want the same fate to her
daughters. Zhara advise her not to provoke Ali and do whatever he wants. But
Soraya doesn’t want to go back. She looks at her daughters sleeping calm which
they are not able to at home due to Ali’s torture. Suddenly a man from neighborhood, Hasheem
appears asking for help with Zhara. He states his wife is very sick and Zhara
prepares to leave. As they go outside they find Ali in a car with Mehri,
laughing and showing off. People are cheering up for him and he looks really
happy. Zhara feels sorry for Soraya and angry towards Ali. Hasheem’s wife dies
leaving her husband and mentally impaired son behind. After the wife’s dead
different women come to his house in excuse of providing condolences but they
rather steal stuffs. Soraya tries to save some of his belongings from being
stolen. The mayor and mulla suggest Soraya to work for the widower for some
wages so that she can earn money and feed her daughters. Hasheem thanks Soraya
for saving his belongings and she also grows attachment with his little son as
she works there. Ali looks over this all very closely. While Soraya earns some
money and is able to live a better life, Ali plans to use the unusual circumstance
to spread lies that Soraya is being unfaithful to him so that she will be
stoned and he can remarry. Ali also knows if Soraya were dead, he would not
have to pay child support. Ali and the mullah start a rumor about Soraya's
infidelity so they can charge her with adultery. One day while Zahra is walking
in town, she realizes that a rumor has spread that her niece is being
unfaithful to her husband. Zhara senses a plot and asks Soraya to quit the job.
But Soraya disagrees as it is her only hope for a better life. Ali and the
mullah need one more "witness" to Soraya's "infidelity" to
be able to formally charge her. They visit Hasheem at home and, using threats,
manipulate him into agreeing to back up their story. Soon after, Ali drags
Soraya through the streets, beating her and publicly declaring that she has
been unfaithful. Zahra intervenes and takes her niece. Ali, and the Mayor of
the village go to her house to talk privately. They bring Hasheem to the home
and, after he lies and says that they had engaged in adultery, a trial is
pursued. Only men, including Soraya's father, are allowed while Soraya is
confined with some women in Zahra's house. She is quickly convicted. Zahra
tries to flee with her and after realizing she cannot, goes to plead with the
mayor for Soraya's life, even offering to switch places with Soraya. The
conviction is upheld though, and as they are preparing for the stoning, the
Mayor prays to Allah for a sign if they are not doing the right thing. Before the actual stoning can begin,
a traveling carnival van comes through and tries to perform their act. They are
shooed away, where they wait by the sidelines as the stoning begins. Soraya's
father disowns her as he is given the first stone to throw but he misses her
repeatedly. A woman in the crowd pleads to the mayor that the stones missing
are a sign Soraya is innocent, but none of the men listen. Ali takes up stones
and throws them himself. Her two sons are also forced to throw stones. Hasheem
is given two stones to throw but instead walks away in tears. The crowd finally
joins in and Soraya is stoned to death.
The people come to know that
Zahra is narrating the story to the journalist about Soraya. Soon, Hasheem, the
mechanic appears to inform the journalist that his car has been fixed. After some
time Ali appears alone in his car. Asked upon his marries he says that, the marriage
is called off as the Mehri’s father has been executed. Hasheem could not
control himself realizing how big crime he has committed. He asks Ali, “Was it
all for nothing?” Then he admits that he lied about the fact that Soraya had
been involved with him in adultery and he was coerced by Ali and Mulla to do
so. As the journalist prepares to leave with his belongings and collect his
vehicle since it has been repaired, the mullah orders a Revolutionary Guard to
stop him at gunpoint. They spill out the belongings of his bag, seize his tape
recorder, and destroy all of the tapes. But as the journalist prepares to drive
away, Zahra appears out of an alley with the real tape in her hand. Men attempt
to run after the car before the journalist is able to drive away. Zhara says to
everyone that the god is great and now the whole world will know what happened
in that place.
This
movie shows the despairing inequality between man and woman in the society, the
intimidation and domination a man impels against a woman. The scene where the
little girls get scared when the journalist enters the gate shows that the man
in a society as such are depiction of cruelty. Zhara’s dialogue like the voice
of women doesn’t matter in this part of world; there are men in this town who
are wild dogs also shows the status of women. Ali’s behavior towards his
children, being responsible towards his sons and ignoring his daughters,
boasting of dominating his wife, and his son’s learning from his father, trying
to hit Soraya when she speaks against Ali is clear depiction how the society
has turned to be as it is. He teaches his son that this is the man’s world and
beats Soraya in front of them.
It
also shows the taboos in Islam that women are not allowed to smoke, a husband
has all the rights to do anything he wants with his wife and the consent of
wife doesn’t matter, the provisions for allowing men to keep Sigeh. The story Soraya tells about her childhood, the
exploitation she had to face is heartbreaking. The girls from very young age
are being abused and used as a toy for pleasure. They are abused within their
family, from their own relatives. The purity of women is considered as her
virginity, they believe that they can do anything with a girl other than an
intercourse. The movie also shows the taboo of Islam that a woman must give
birth. A woman with no children are considered incomplete and is rejected from
the society. The women without husband are considered worthless. They have no
rights to talk with other men, or have their say in any matters. A widow should
respect other men and do what they decide for her. The provision of
non-participation of women in public matter is also depicted in the movie. Like
Zhara or any other women were not allowed to be a part of jury for the trial
and whatever they decide would be the judgement. It also talks about the harsh
Islamic law which states that a trial can be proceeded with any witness coming
forward. The genuineness of the witness is not considered. And the biggest flaw
of religion shown in this movie is the extent of brutality. In accusation of
adultery Soraya is stoned and killed brutally but Hasheem who is also accused
to be a part of the act is set free without punishment. The inequality and
cruelty in the laws makes it more conservative and superficial.
FIN
Appendix:
(Last excerpt of
the summary of the story of movie is copied from Wikipedia, as I decided not to summarize
the stoning and its brutality.)
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