![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I know I sung the praises of Rosewater about six weeks ago but I didn't really explain it.
Now, it's directed by Jon Stewart so you'd expect it to be good except this is his first feature film. As such, there are some scenes that could be trimmed, some other edits and questionable choices but it's a very mature work compared to the usual debut. The biggest mistake in the film is that I didn't realize that the flashback at the beginning of the film was actually giving insight into the imprisoned journalist's main interrogator.
I have an on-again/off-again crush on Gael García Bernal who stars as Maziar Bahari, a journalist who is arrested and imprisoned in Iran. The crush was definitely on-again in this film. It's a great cast despite the complaints about the lack of Iranians. Also, the music is by Howard Shore, yay!
Is this completely historically accurate? No. I found myself afterwards reading through Wikipedia and internet articles for the full story. My mom and I would still like to know the fates of those still left behind in prison when he was released.
However, the thing about this film that I liked the most that lacks in so many other based in real life films is HOPE. A lot of films give you hope based on knowledge that the person was able to write their memoirs later on the experience, but this film was different. There was a pervading, oozing sense of hope in almost every frame.
Bahari was merely a visitor to the land of his birth that he had fled as soon as he could, but the others, those that still lived there were building themselves a better tomorrow illegal act by illegal act. They knew the consequences. They knew that death was a very likely outcome and THEY DID IT ANYWAY! That's some of the rawest courage imaginable. It was profoundly uplifting, not only to see but to think how each of us could try harder for a better tomorrow when we have so much more resources and freedoms than these Iranians.
Now, it's directed by Jon Stewart so you'd expect it to be good except this is his first feature film. As such, there are some scenes that could be trimmed, some other edits and questionable choices but it's a very mature work compared to the usual debut. The biggest mistake in the film is that I didn't realize that the flashback at the beginning of the film was actually giving insight into the imprisoned journalist's main interrogator.
I have an on-again/off-again crush on Gael García Bernal who stars as Maziar Bahari, a journalist who is arrested and imprisoned in Iran. The crush was definitely on-again in this film. It's a great cast despite the complaints about the lack of Iranians. Also, the music is by Howard Shore, yay!
Is this completely historically accurate? No. I found myself afterwards reading through Wikipedia and internet articles for the full story. My mom and I would still like to know the fates of those still left behind in prison when he was released.
However, the thing about this film that I liked the most that lacks in so many other based in real life films is HOPE. A lot of films give you hope based on knowledge that the person was able to write their memoirs later on the experience, but this film was different. There was a pervading, oozing sense of hope in almost every frame.
Bahari was merely a visitor to the land of his birth that he had fled as soon as he could, but the others, those that still lived there were building themselves a better tomorrow illegal act by illegal act. They knew the consequences. They knew that death was a very likely outcome and THEY DID IT ANYWAY! That's some of the rawest courage imaginable. It was profoundly uplifting, not only to see but to think how each of us could try harder for a better tomorrow when we have so much more resources and freedoms than these Iranians.
