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The Stoning of Soraya M. (2008)

tomatometer

55

Average Rating: 5.8/10
Reviews Counted: 80
Fresh: 44 | Rotten: 36

The Stoning of Soraya M. nearly transcends its deficiencies through the sheer strength of its subject material, but ultimately drowns out its message with an inappropriately heavy-handed approach.

59

Average Rating: 6.1/10
Critic Reviews: 22
Fresh: 13 | Rotten: 9

The Stoning of Soraya M. nearly transcends its deficiencies through the sheer strength of its subject material, but ultimately drowns out its message with an inappropriately heavy-handed approach.

audience

86

liked it
Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 5,722

My Rating

Movie Info

Director Cyrus Nowrasteh teams with screenwriter Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh to illuminate the dangers of religious fundamentalism, gender apartheid, and mob rule with this fictionalized adaptation of Freidoune Sahebjam's best-selling novel centering on a true-life tragedy. The story takes place in 1986, just as Khomeini is coming into power in Iran. Undercover French journalist Freidoune Sahebjam (Jim Caviezel) is traveling though a small southwestern village when his car breaks down. Surrounded by

R, 1 hr. 56 min.

Drama

Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh, Cyrus Nowrasteh

Mar 9, 2010

$0.5M

Roadside Attractions

Cast

All Critics (81) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (44) | Rotten (36) | DVD (2)

Whatever its dramatic flaws, and they are many, this is a movie that, in essence, is more than a movie.

July 24, 2009 Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | Comment
Christian Science Monitor
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Despite some wonderful performances, the plot plods inexorably and with sickening predictability towards the inevitable conclusion, but nothing can prepare us for the actual event, which Nowrasteh films in real time and in shocking detail.

July 17, 2009 Full Review Source: Toronto Star | Comment
Toronto Star
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Though The Stoning of Soraya M.' s heart is in the right place, its head is lost in storm clouds of anger.

July 17, 2009 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | Comment
Globe and Mail
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Although The Stoning is efficiently made, it is ultimately a cheat.

July 16, 2009 Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | Comment
Arizona Republic
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A reasonable person might well add the issue to the agenda after enduring this at times unbearably violent agitprop drama, based on the true story of an Iranian woman stoned to death after being falsely accused by her husband of adultery.

July 3, 2009 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | Comment
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Goes well beyond its angry didacticism and its specific indictment of men's oppression of women to achieve the impact of a Greek tragedy through its masterful grasp of suspense and group psychology, and some superb acting.

July 1, 2009 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A strange and repugnant piece of work, half hot-button political propaganda and half sadomasochistic Outrage Porn.

August 26, 2011 Full Review Source: East Bay Express | Comments (2)
East Bay Express

Though it is perfectly watchable, it latches onto the more simplistic domestic aspect of the story at the expense of exploring the more difficult and complex political issues that enable this sort of killing to come about in the first place.

October 22, 2010 Full Review Source: Eye for Film | Comment
Eye for Film

Nowrasteh's approach is hardly subtle, favouring didactic dialogue and overblown scoring. That said, a 20-minute stoning sequence possesses the shocking brutality of The Passion Of The Christ

October 21, 2010 Full Review Source: Total Film | Comment
Total Film

[A] well-intentioned, but laboured and woodenly acted film, based on a true story.

October 21, 2010 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment
Guardian [UK]

This is The Wicker Man but with scary English country folks replaced with the supposed Axis of Evil.

October 21, 2010 Comment
Little White Lies

This harrowing film spares no physical or emotional detail.

October 13, 2010 Full Review Source: Financial Times | Comment
Financial Times

With the melancholy cry of a sad cello, the film opens with a golden sun rising over the hills of a remote Iran landscape...It's a devastating story, powerfully told

May 29, 2010 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment
Urban Cinefile

The long, shockingly barbaric stoning sequence near the film's climax is indeed grueling, and the film's depiction of the events leading up to it paint a horrifying picture of the powerlessness of women in rural Iran in this period.

May 27, 2010 Full Review Source: sbs.com.au | Comment
sbs.com.au

This film is by no means a cinematic masterpiece, but Aghdashloo's strong performance holds the film together.

May 27, 2010 Full Review Source: Trespass | Comment
Trespass

The Stoning Of Soraya M. hits you in the gut. It's a phenomenal piece of cinema, but there are many who will read about it and think, "I don't need to go there."

May 25, 2010 Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia) | Comment
FILMINK (Australia)

Preachy outrage and clunky execution deplete a vital decrying of misogyny.

May 24, 2010 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine Australasia | Comment
Empire Magazine Australasia

A film that may become a little preachy but nonetheless asserts itself as an important document for the world's attention.

May 23, 2010 Full Review Source: Concrete Playground | Comment
Concrete Playground

Undermined by a weak, phony-feeling ending, Cyrus Nowrasteh's film is nevertheless a pitiless study of moral cowardice.

March 13, 2010 Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | Comment
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

This film is eye-opening and heart-draining and it is excellently produced.This is a very good film, but it is hard for me to chirp "check it out" because it will stick with you, twisting in your stomach and making your life's petty annoyances feel less t

December 15, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinerina | Comment

Does not make for good drama or entertainment, but it eerily elicits a strange power that says a lot about human rights violations throughout the world.

December 14, 2009 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comments (3)
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Anchored by a terrific performance by Shohreh Aghdashloo, The Stoning of Soraya M explores the disturbing lives of women in the more radical regions of the Middle East.

December 12, 2009 Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | Comment
Oscar Guy

This movie is well acted, directed, edited and filmed, however, it is also depressing, uninspiring and sickening. Like a glacier, it moves slowly and inexorably towards its final conclusion.

December 3, 2009 Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | Comments (3)
Laramie Movie Scope
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Stoning of Soraya M.

The Stoning of Soraya M. is a film that every one should see. It is an extremely powerful, shocking, heart-wrenching and unforgettable film that looks into rural Iranian life, and the horrifying fate a woman might be forced into. Shohreh Aghdashloo, Mozhan Marno and the rest of the cast deliver superb performances

March 31, 2011
Raymond Wieser

Super Reviewer

The Stoning of Soraya M. tells the story of a woman whose husband conspires to convict her of adultery. The isolated village strictly follows traditional Islamic law, and as a result of her husband's conspiracy, Soraya is brutally stoned.The performances by Jim Caviezel, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Mozhan Marno are all

January 30, 2011
hunterjt13
Jim Hunter

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • La verdad de Soraya M. (ES)
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