The World Must Know

 

“The world must know”

Although these words are whispered in the film, they will stay with you and haunt you until you can figure out a way to tell others about this chilling tale of horrific injustice. The Stoning of Soraya M. is set in Iran, based on Freidoune Sahebjam’s book (a French-Iranian journalist who died in 2008), directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh (an Iranian-American filmmaker) who co-scripted with his spouse Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh.

Set in a small village in Iran in 1986 a woman has a terrible secret that the world must know. She is able to share this story about a grave injustice committed in her town just the previous day to her niece. Soraya was falsely accused of adultery by her cheating husband and was stoned to death by the men in the community as required by Islamic law.

The stoning sequence is the most unbearable visual experience I have witnessed at the movies… almost twenty minutes of a woman buried in a hole up to her waist, facing those who will be her murderers. The first stone is cast by Soraya’s father and you die with her with each blow to her face and body as she accepts her fate.

Clearly, the message in this movie is about evil in a religion. If there is a practice that is evil, how can it prevail? Condoning the death penalty unequally based on gender or race or class is evil.

I promise you that this true story will follow you until you find a way to do the right thing. You can start by searching for the truth. You can continue by speaking up against the evils of the world. And you can begin with this piece in the Chessler Chronicles.

http://pajamasmedia.com/phyllischesler/2008/09/25/the-stoning-of-soraya-m-in-iran-not-americas-fault/

“The world must know”