The Stoning of Soraya M.

A tip: If you are born a female, make sure it's not in Iran.

They say it themselves: If you're accused of having an affair, and you're a woman, it's not up to them to prove you're guilty, but for you to establish your innocence. Of course with men, it's the other way around. You've bore your violent husband two girls and two boys and been married to him for twenty years. Suddenly one day, he decides to hitch up with a 14 year old girl instead. That's gratitude for you. But you won't give him a divorce, due to the fact it would leave you virtually penniless. So, he does the only thing a nasty bastard could do... he makes up a cock and bull story about you having an affair with a neighbour... and enlists the help of the local corrupt law officials in his plan. And the punishment for such a crime is... well, look at the title.

The Stoning Of Soraya M, as told by Soraya's aunt after the event to a journalist, is one of the hardest films to watch that I've seen in many a moon. Throughout, the sense of injustice and frustration at such an unfair situation makes you want to scream, and the uncomfortableness factor is moved up about 50 notches at the stoning itself... when everyone, from Soraya's sons to her own father takes it in turns to chuck rocks at her while she's half buried in the soil. Of course, the injuries are graphically displayed... Making this possibly the most upsetting final act since Jesus's fate was sealed in The Passion Of The Christ. Both are extended slow deaths where nothing is left to the imagination, so make sure you're mentally prepared before submitting yourself to such a brutal experience.

Brilliantly acted, and echoing with the ring of truth, as the epilogue reminds us: this sort of barbarism is still taking place all over the world. We may THINK we're civilised, but incidences like this prove we still have a LONG way to go. Disgraceful. 7/10

Saw this film recently at a special "pre-screening". The Stoning of Soraya M. is one of the few movies you will vividly remember to your dying day. It is almost unwatchable, yet you can't take your eyes off the screen. To think that women are still going through this today, creates a sense of obligation to see this movie. I can't stop thinking about all the women who encounter this type of injustice around the globe. Shohreh's performance is stunning and she surely deserves an Oscar nomination. She literally has pages of written text on her face, in one glance she communicates so much. Though tough to watch at places, I don't think it any different then the senseless violence in summer blockbusters and horror films. This film is a testament to the hundreds of thousand of voiceless women around the work.

I almost didn't go see The Stoning of Soraya because of how graphic I heard it was, but I was invited to an early screening and it blew me away. It's shocking and hard, but I feel like everybody needs to see this movie to understand what these women are dealing with.

Of course we need to be active for women's rights and human rights everywhere, and I hope this will wake people up to it even more. All the physical violence in this movie is played out in emotional violence every day to many women in every country.

This movie is also absolutely beautifully shot with a great score-can't wait to see if it goes up for an Academy Award.

I watched this movie three days ago and it still haunts me and has kept me up at night. The title of the movie reveals how this story ends but nothing could have prepared me for the brutality depicted in the inevitable stoning scene. Many other reviewers have summarized the plot so I won't go into that, I'll just say that this movie NEEDS to be seen. This woman's story needs to be told. The world needs to know the reality of life for women in patriarchal societies, and this movie tells just one of the many stories of women who have endured the kind of treatment Soraya did.

To sum it up, this film broke my heart. The two female leads are such strong actors that you feel like you're experiencing the events with them. You feel their disbelief, their rage, their fear, their helplessness, their pain. When Soraya bravely walks to the spot where she knows she will die, when she sees the pile of rocks, when the first stone strikes her... and the next one, and the next one...you feel what she feels. Even though you know from the beginning what happens to Soraya you keep hoping that somehow the events unfold differently than they do. But they don't, and the result is absolutely devastating.

Be forewarned, this film presents a graphic depiction of a public stoning. It is brutal, cruel and extremely disturbing. The scenes will stay with you. But that is the point. The world needs to know what Soraya and countless women like her have experienced, because educating ourselves is the only way atrocities like this will end.

I saw The Stoning of Soraya M. a few months back at a screening, and it was so incredibly poignant that just watching the newly-released trailer brought tears to my eyes. Tears for the woman upon whom this film is based, and tears for many others like her, throughout the world, who have no voice.

The Stoning of Soraya M. is well-paced overall and does a fantastic job of bringing the audiences into Soraya's helpless situation, as we, just as helplessly, witness the malicious or cowardly decisions of others that will eventually lead to her demise.

The film treats Islam with sensitivity and in no way implicates the religion itself in the brutal practice of stoning. Shohreh Aghdashloo's character, a Muslim, decries the stoning as against the will of God.

It is important to note that the film accurately depicts a stoning, and is therefore not for the feint of heart, but seekers of truth and justice will appreciate the candor with which it portrays the gruesome nature of the heinous practice.

I commend Cyrus Nowrasteh, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and the film's producers for their courage in making this film. Thanks to you, "the world will know."