Rosewater

'ROSEWATER': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five) Jon Stewart (of 'THE DAILY SHOW' fame) makes his directorial debut with this biopic about an Iranian-Canadian journalist, named Maziar Bahari, who was detained and violently interrogated, in Iran for 118 days, because he was suspected of being a spy. One of the main pieces of evidence, that captors used as proof of his guilt, was a satirical interview he did for 'THE DAILY SHOW'. Stewart directed and wrote the film; which he adapted from the memoir 'Then They Came for Me', by Maziar and Aimee Molloy. It stars Gael Garcia Bernal as the journalist and also features Kim Bodnia, Haluk Bilginer, Dimitri Leonidas and Shohreh Aghdashloo. I have mixed feelings about the film, in it's entirety, but I still think it's an impressive cinematic debut for Stewart. Maziar Bahari (Bernal) was blindfolded, beaten and interrogated for 4 months, in Iran in 2009, while locked up in Evin prion. His interrogator (Bodnia) smelled like rosewater and he used a clip from 'THE DAILY SHOW', of Bahari being interviewed for the satirical political news show, as evidence of his guilt. 'THE DAILY SHOW' segment was recreated for the film, with 'THE DAILY SHOW' correspondent Jason Jones playing himself (Jones originally interviewed Bahari, while traveling in Iran recording video for the show). Bahari also shot incriminating protest video, prior to his arrest, which he gave to the BBC; the film suggests that this was the real reason for his arrest and brutal interrogation. The movie chronicles all of the events leading up to, and during, his nightmarish incarceration. Stewart shows a lot of promise, with his visual technique, in several scenes throughout the film and it's really interesting seeing him write and direct a political drama, for his debut feature. Still the movie is very unbalanced; at times it's even humorous (to an extent that doesn't seem natural or believable, in the rest of the film's setting). The acting is good though and the lead character is well developed. I wish I could praise it more, because I really want Stewart to succeed as a filmmaker, but I'm happy he chose something that he's really passionate about (and somewhat already involved in) for his film debut (even if it's a flawed one). I look forward to seeing a lot more from him in the future. Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://youtu.be/XBTsoCDCJpU

In 2009, Maziar Bahari (Gael García Bernal) travels to his homeland to report on the Iranian election for Newsweek. His father was once imprison for being a communist and so was his late sister. He does a segment with The Daily Show. When Ahmadinejad is declared the winner, protests erupted and he's arrested. He is imprisoned for 4 months facing constant interrogation. The movie is pretty compelling for the first 30 minutes. It's interesting history and good drama. After getting imprisoned, the movie doesn't have quite as much. Jon Stewart doesn't really have any interesting style and that section needs that something out of the box. It's earnest and so is everybody else. Jon could have gone surreal. It's pretty straight forward with some attempts at dark humor. It's a fine informative film.

Here's Hoping that Satirist and now Film Writer/Director Jon Stewart has Compensated for the Guilt He must have Felt after a Segment on "The Daily Show" Indirectly or perhaps Directly led to the Arrest of Journalist Maziar Bahari in Iran on the Charges of being a Spy (that was play-acted in the TV Show segment). Stewart Shows some Flair for Cinema in the First Half with some Effective, if Artsy Arrangements of Images Superimposed on Landscapes that is a Surreal Opening to an all too Real Second Half. Also, it is the First Half of the Movie that Grips with its Diving into the Counter Culture of Iran's Youth Movement, its Braggadocio and Behavior that almost Begs for Attention from the Police State. After the Controversial Election and its Aftermath of Riots that Journalist Bahari is Covering and His immediate Arrest and Imprisonment, the Film Takes a much more Sombre Tone and the Filmmaking Flourishes and maybe even its Purpose is Succumbed by the Interrogation and Captivity Scenes. Although Stewart shows some Ability to alleviate some Boredom with Flashbacks and Dream Sequences, by the Third Act the Movie does Feel like it has Run its Course of Insight and Criticism of the Iranian Political System. Overall, it is a Story Worth Watching and Remembering, still very Topical, and it's a Solid, if Wanting, Effort from Jon Stewart. Political enough, Artistic enough, and Profound enough to be Recommended and Despite its Low Budget Limitation is Better than the Best Picture Winner of a Few Years Back that also was Set In Iran, Albeit in the 1970's.

Rosewater is the film Argo should have been but wasn't. It tells its story without hype or melodramatic fakery. Without the lies Jon Stewart won't reap Ben Affleck's box office. But he made by far the better movie. He respected the truth more than the clichés of the blockbuster. Stewart has a great, moving story. The saga of Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari's 118- day imprisonment records the largely psychological torture he suffered and his personal responses to it. In solitary confinement he summons up the company of his dead father, whom the Shah had imprisoned and — physically — tortured for being a Communist, and his dead rebel older sister Maryam, who'd introduced him to the marvels of Leonard Cohen and the joys of culture and life. As Stewart shoots the film Iran itself — at least, as played by stand-in Amman, Jordan — is infused with a magic realism that reflects the absent powers and spirits in the cityscape. The imaginary life in the city is like that in the cell -- for the country is a jail. To set the political tone, the film opens on an Iranian poem abut a loving world endangered by the new threat to light. The title records the change in the connotation of rosewater, from the piety and warmth the child Maziar associated with it to the sinister insecure "specialist" who wafts it when he interrogates him. Rosewater has shifted from a humanist piety to serve a dehumanizing tyrant. That distills the tragedy of Iran. The film deflates some common myths about that enemy country. The young airhead infatuated with Ahmadinejad is no famished street urchin brainwashed with chocolates but an educated Brit. Stewart's strongest point is to distinguish between the Iranian people and their government. The government may be evil — ironically, itself the Great Satan character it projects on America — but the people are warm, spirited, hungry for freedom and for connection to the outside world. The point is concentrated in Maziar's comic interview on Stewart's TV show, where he points to a similarity between Iran and America. This of course convinces Rosewater that Maziar must be a traitor and a spy. When Maziar inveigles Rosewater with tales of his international massage experiences he exposes not just the Iranian puritan's hypocrisy but his projection upon the Other — in this case the profane West — his own suppressed desires and shame. The jailer is more frightened than the prisoner — his power belies his vulnerability. Yet Maziar and Stewart remain confident in the future. In the final scene the Iranian security force demolishes the subversive army of satellite dishes. But behind a door a furtive wide-eyed boy with a cell-phone camera bears witness. As the frightened savagery continues another generation of freedom fighter rises from the shadows. Hope springs eternal.

The movie presents quite an imbalanced story as a whole. The story building is quite brilliant by starting off from the arrest. It then develops very nicely by backtracking and restarting from London. But then when it reaches the point of the actual imprisonment days, the movie really lacks the suspense and dramatization that it needs to top out that story built. The prison days lacks very much the intensity that prison scenes should have. Even with the blindfold element, the scenes don't really seem intimidating. The Javadi character is depicted with a contradicting nature of being rigid but also kind of afraid of his inmate, even this can be exploited for adequate suspense. The acting overall is quite nice. Gael Garcia Bernal played out smoothly as an Iranian. Dimitri Leonidas, Haluk Bilginer and Kim Bodnia each played their roles well enough to complete the needed story angles. and

How do you tell the story of interrogation, the breaking of the spirit, the finding of resistance and the desire to survive? Rosewater is a good answer. John Stewart the satirist and news anchor to a generation of Americans makes his serious film début by walking away from the usual balloon bursting of his show to take the bull by the horns and show us through imaginative devices like the deceased family of the journalist,flashbacks, a particularly moving moment with Leonard Cohen and straight narrative, how the mind is the strongest muscle in the human body if we allow it. Modern journalism and the politics of dictatorship clash briefly to set up the main story, a two man play starring interrogator and prisoner. This is not a documentary about the Green revolution, nor is it a touchy feely film about family. John Stewart takes the book Then They Came for Me by Maziar Bahari & Aimee Molloy and focuses on the core material around the detention of the journalist by Iranian authorities. If you compare Rosewater to any number of films that focus even a little bit on interrogation, even in the recently democratic central and eastern Europe, the film stands up well to stories done often by the tortured themselves. Physical brutality is rare in this film and if we are to believe the writers were prepared to make Iran look bad they could have really laid it on thick, yet unlike some US film makers who sacrifice the basic facts for a bit of gore and propaganda, John Stewart stuck to the head games and did it well. I suspect doing the Daily Show might be getting a bit old for him what with the recent reaction to his material on Gaza. I hope he makes the transition full time soon, he'll be a great addition to the pantheon of directors tackling issues with the same razor sharp intellect he uses in his comedy.

I am pleasantly surprised when I find a well written film which relies on acting, enhanced by subtle art direction. So I was absorbed in this film from its beginning. The relationships between Maziar, his mother, his sister, his father, his Iranian peers and his persecutors are intertwined beautifully. Gael Garcia Bernal is probably one of a handful of international stars who could light up this story with consistently excellent acting. Kim Bodnia and Haluk Bilinger are also part of that group. The cast carries the storyline which is rather uncomplicated and well worn. The political, cultural and social issues for Maziar Bahari are not. Bernal's interpretation of the tortured and isolated journalist is painfully realistic. It is not the over-the-top Hollywood version of blood, nudity and brutality. This sets this film apart. I came away from the interchanges between Bahari and Rosewater with a better understanding of the repressed sexuality in theocratic Iran. Its patriarchy is twisted by its own harsh theology. The relationships between Bahari, his father and Rosewater could represent the core struggle between Iran's past and aspirations for its future. This is definitely a thinking person's film.

Rosewater is a compelling account of the detainment of Newsweek journalist Maziar Behari in Iran after the contested election of 2009. It offers a vivid portrait of one man's confrontation with an oppressive system and the impact that system had on its family, while also revealing Daily Show host John Stewart as a talented dramatic filmmaker. A good script, talented direction, and a great cast combine to produce to make a moving film. The film provides a nuanced picture of Iran, indicting its hard line government while outlining the historical and political context of Behari's plight. In brief, it examines the class and cultural divisions within Iranian society while not allowing the information to overwhelm the story. While condemning the brutality of Behari's captors, (solitary confinement is way scarier than it sounds), it puts their actions in historical context, with several pointed references to America's role in imposing dictators on the country during the Cold War. Not for nothing do the Iranians distrust America. Rosewater benefits from a strong lead in Gael Garcia Bernal. He captures Behari's vulnerability while held in solitary confinement, but also manages to convey his inner strength. His strong performance is especially important given that much of the film focuses on him talking with his interrogators. A strong supporting cast backs Bernal's performance. The underused Shohreh Aghdashloo has a strong if brief turn as Behari's mother, while the actors who play his interrogators make their subjects menacing while keeping them human. Above all, the film reveals John Stewart as an up and coming filmmaker. His script involves the viewer, while he also makes excellent use of cinematography. Two scenes in particular stand out: one where Behari reflects on his family's troubled past with various Iranian government as images of his persecuted father and sister appear on windows he walks by, and another where he vividly conveys what it is like to ride a motorcycle through the streets of Tehran. Stewart has a future as a politically conscious director. The film does have one false note towards the end, as it strikes a too optimistic tone by claiming that oppressive governments like Iran's know they cannot win and that his captors were more scared than he was. The film itself does not really support such an outlook. Behari only escaped because of his international connections, a fact the film acknowledges. Furthermore, although Stewart does not show it, in interviews he has noted that the last thing Behari's interrogators said to him before he left prison was that Iranian agents could get to him whenever they want, in any part of the world. Hardly the words of people who are scared. However, this tonal misstep does not undermine the film as a whole. Rosewater deserves the acclaim it is getting and hopefully will be recognized at the Academy Awards next year.

It is very obvious that this movie is a failed attempt of an american campaign. Its not working anymore. This is nothing to do with art. Even though i do not like iran type of governments, this movie is overrated example of an advertisement. Do not waste your time..

This film is recommended. Comedian and television host Jon Stewart took a leave of absence from his television work to make this powerful political drama, Rosewater, a film that became a small part of his life after filming a faux-news segment on his Daily Show gig. That interview became evidence to try and convict that guest, Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-born journalist. (In 2009, Bahari was arrested in Iran while covering a story for Newsweek and falsely accused of being a spy.) Stewart took a personal interest in his story due to his subsequent involvement with this reporter. Like the prisoners in Kiss of the Spider Woman, Bahari retreats into a fantasy world in order to keep his sanity over the many long months during this ordeal. His scenes in solitary confinement serve in sharp contrast with memories of his past life, as one is immediately drawn into his plight. Rosewater vividly chronicles this injustice as it focuses on his imprisonment and torture. Bahari (Gael García Bernal) is arrested soon after the movie opens, while his mother, Moloojoon (Shohreh Aghdashloo), helplessly looks on. The film takes its time with its exposition of the political ramifications of an election and the country's divide among its party leaders and supporters. The protests lead to the harrowing sequences of brutal interrogation between Bahari and his captor, Javadi (Kim Bodnia) that are the majority of the film's content. (Bahari spends most of these scenes blindfolded and his only connection with his interrogator is the heavy scent of rosewater wore by his adversary, hence the title.) First time writer / director Stewart skillfully builds the tension and frustration faced by this prisoner and wisely allows the two actors to play off each other in subtle and overt ways. Sometimes the atmospheric photography is self-conscious, with too much hand-held camera-work overused in order to try to capture the frenzied state of revolution; other times, he keeps a keen visual eye as the events unfold, as when walking the streets of Iran and flooding its windows with surreal images of Bahari's family amid the social unrest. Bernal is very effective as Bahari. One can sense the fear and inner strength within this character by the physical choices that the actor makes, from his trembling voice to his stoic posturing. The role might be written as too saintly and heroic, but Bernal downplays that aspect beautifully. Especially touching is Bernal's inspired dance against oppression set to a Leonard Cohen song. His is a strong and memorable portrayal of a man who has lost freedom but not his sense of hope. The same can be adversely said of the thankless role of the evil interrogator. As his opponent, Bodnia is a commanding force, both as actor and written character. The film succeed primarily due to their spirited performances. The political debating between the two men plays out like a point/ counterpoint segment as each tries to gain the psychological advantage of the other. Although the moviegoer may already know the outcome of the film, the escalating dangers between captor and captive make for predictable but still riveting viewing. The film does become slightly preachy and self-righteous as its point-of-view is strictly on the side of its protagonist. But the impact of an innocent man wronged by a tyrannical regime resonates with understated power. Rosewater is an important film that documents the perils of journalism in a crazed world where politics and religion frequently undermine rational thinking, all at the cost of one's man's precious freedom. GRADE: B Visit my blog at: www.dearmoviegoer.com ANY COMMENTS: Please contact me at: jadepietro@rcn.com