Review of Rosewater (2014) by Patrick L — 19 Aug 2015

"Rosewater is a decent and well-acted first feature film by Jon Stewart".

DVD Movie Review: Rosewater.

Date Viewed: February 14 2015.

Directed By Jon Stewart.

Screenplay By Jon Stewart, Based on the book "Then They Came for Me" by Maziar Bahari and Aimee Molloy.

Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Kim Bodnia, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Claire Foy, Dimitri Leonidas, Haluk Bilginer, Arian Moayed, Amir El-Masry and Jason Jones.

In the Summer of 2013, Jon Stewart took some time off from "The Daily Show" to write and direct his first feature film. "Rosewater" is a decent and well-acted first feature from Stewart as he tackles with an important subject. "Rosewater" is about an Iranian-Canadian journalist named Maziar Bahari (Gael Garcia Bernal), he was imprisoned in Iran for 118 days because he gave a satirical interview regarding Iran's presidential election. He was brutally interrogated by an Iranian interrogator known as Rosewater.

This movie is a hard sell. Moviegoers only care about big-budget blockbusters and dramatic biopics, they are not interested in a movie about a journalist being brutally interrogated and tortured in an Iranian prison. Stewart surprisingly keeps the tone light at times and limits the amount of brutal violence. In 2009, Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari is assigned to Iran to give an exclusive interview to Mir-Hossein Moussavi, the prime challenger to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Soon, he gives a satirical interview on "The Daily Show" which causes him to be detained by Iranian authorities.

He was imprisoned for four months in the hands of Rosewater (Kim Bodina), Bahari was interrogated and tortured for 118 days and he wasn't allowed to make any contact with the outside world. Rosewater thinks that Bahari is a spy because of the video evidence of the election protests he provided to the BBC. Gael Garcia Bernal gives an impassioned performance as Bahari, Oscar-nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo is really good as Bahari's mother, Moloojoon and Kim Bodina is ferocious as Rosewater.

Proving that he can step back from satirical comedy, Jon Stewart maybe ready to become a big-time filmmaker because later this year, he's leaving "The Daily Show". Thanks to his sharp screenplay and bold direction, Stewart has made a compelling piece of storytelling.