Gut-wrenching and mesmerizing, The Stoning of Soraya M. is a timely feat.
Stephen McEveety has produced some of the most compelling and profitable films in American cinema, including some of my favorites: Braveheart and The Passion of the Christ, and more recently, the indie ‘biggie’, Bella. He’s also no stranger to controversy and spectacle because of his involvement in the aforementioned Passion and an upcoming documentary on forgiveness in the aftermath of the Rwandan holocaust (As We Forgive). His latest project is The Stoning of Soraya M., a riveting, sliver-of-life film on the horrible practice of stoning and injustice in post-Islamic revolution Iran.
The Stoning of Soraya M. is based on the true-story account of a woman, Soraya (played by Mozhan Marno, Charlie Wilson’s War), who is condemned to a torturous death at the hands of her own community of family and friends after her husband spreads false accusations throughout the village, simply because he desires to marry a young 14-year-old girl.
In 1994, a French-Iranian journalist, Freidoune Sahebjam, adapted the story into a bestselling book, whose eyewitness source was Soraya’s aunt, Zahra (Shoreh Aghdashloo, House of Sand and Fog, 24). Zahra secretly told Sahebjam the grisly details the day after the brutal murder happened in the village, where by seemingly divine coincidence, the journalist’s car broke down, stranding him as he waited for repairs.
Not since Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ has a movie affected me so deeply with such disturbing visuals and frustrating, emotional storytelling. It is gut-wrenchingly upfront with where its story is headed, and grabs you along the way to its inevitable conclusion.
Courtesy of HollywoodJesus.com, I had the opportunity to chat with Stephen McEveety about Soraya and his involvement with the film and why such a timely story needs to be told and seen in light of the current turmoil in Iran. (more…)