Deadly reckoning

The Stoning of Soraya M. is a harrowing trip

BLUNT AND BRUTAL: The Stoning of Soraya M.

by MATTHEW HAYS

The Stoning of Soraya M. is every bit as subtle as its title indicates. It is the bluntly told true story of an Iranian woman who, in the early ’80s, was executed by the men in her small town, based on a rumour that she had committed adultery. According to some readings of Shariah law, that buries you in a hole up to your waist. Let the stoning begin.

It’s as brutal as it gets. But the point is certainly one that needs to be made. In Iran, and some other middle eastern and sub-Saharan African countries, execution by stoning is still practised with alarming frequency. Director Cyrus Nowrasteh goes for pushing the limits of excess with this film, bringing the inevitable to a boil in an excruciating, ultra-realistic 20-minute stoning scene. He’s got a point, and it’s a good one, but at certain moments, The Stoning of Soraya M. does start to feel a bit like Mel Gibson-style torture porn.

Having said that, Nowrasteh has brought together a magnificent cast. James Caviezel plays the Iranian-French journalist who stops in town due to car trouble. (And with his appearance in this and The Passion of the Christ, he’s starred in films with two of the bloodiest execution scenes in history—does he actively seek these projects out?) While it’s in the shop, Shohreh Aghdashloo tells him the entire story of the execution of her innocent niece Soraya (Mozhan Marnò), who was killed just 24 hours earlier.

We learn of Soraya’s carousing husband, who wanted to marry a 14-year-old girl but would only be free to do so if his wife would grant him a divorce. She won’t, because she can’t support herself and knows he won’t help her once the marriage is over. Hubby is soon bending the ear of the town’s mullah and mayor, spreading rumours to the town gossip and basically setting the wheels in motion for her to go down.

With its determined pace, The Stoning of Soraya M. takes us to a very sad and disturbing event. For all its Hollywood veneer, Nowrasteh uses a still shot of the actual Soraya to punctuate his film with a quasi-documentary authenticity. It’s vicious enough to make you very, very queasy.

THE STONING OF SORAYA M. OPENS
THIS FRIDAY, JULY 24