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Stoning Of Soraya M.: A Message Lost In Gratuitous Violence

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librariesare4lovers
06/26/09

In reply to Stoning Of Soraya M.: A Message Lost In Gratuitous Violence
See I'm kinda disappointed that the had to be so heavy handed with the stoning scene. Just shooting a single shot view of that scene w/ no slow-mo, no fancy camera angles would have been MORE powerful to me. An act as powerful as that doesn't need to stylized to highlight how horrific it is.
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clevernamehere
06/26/09

In reply to Stoning Of Soraya M.: A Message Lost In Gratuitous Violence
People went in droves to see not only The Passion of the Christ but also Saw and its sequels.

People really aren't that squeamish about violence, even when it is pointless and graphic like it is in Saw.

If few people see this movie, it isn't going to be because of the violence its going to be because people like their violence to be enjoyable and not something that makes them question how women are treated around the world.
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bluebears
06/26/09

In reply to Stoning Of Soraya M.: A Message Lost In Gratuitous Violence
See for me the difference between this and a "slasher" pic is this actually HAPPENED. I mean this is totally personal to me but when I know the violence actually happened to a living person I find it much harder to sit through for entertainment purposes. I mean I don't see many "important" movies because of this ie. Schindlers List or Roots. I'm just really visual and its so incredibly upsetting to me. But movies like Saw I have no problem with, they're almost like cartoons.
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mass romantic
06/26/09

In reply to Stoning Of Soraya M.: A Message Lost In Gratuitous Violence
I just READ a stoning scene for the first time (in 'The Kite Runner') and that was even hard to handle...but I figure if I can sit through slasher flicks for entertainment, I should buck up and see this.
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dianersb was bit by a zombie
06/26/09

@mass romantic: OMG. I cried (sobbed really) on a plane at the end of that book. It was too the point where I worried the flight attendants and they were asking me if I was okay.

It takes a really well-written book to make me cry in public.
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maggiethecat
06/26/09

In reply to Stoning Of Soraya M.: A Message Lost In Gratuitous Violence
Perhaps they should have had megan fox star in it and make the stoning scene last three minutes, during which time her top rips off and she flutters her eyelashes and makes her O face then delicately dies... wtf. it's a stoning. The real account probably did last 20 minutes- and these atrocities happen all of the time.

Also the argument about it being too violent for US audiences is shit b/c everyone went to see Transformers. The Kite Runner was up for an academy award and that stoning scene was horrific.
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nikkilove
06/26/09

@maggiethecat: With all due respect, the stoning in this movie was much worse than the scene in the Kite Runner. I was fortunate enough to see this movie last weekend at the LA Film Festival, and the stoning scene is so awful, it is almost indescribable. Yes, I am sure the real stoning took that long, if not longer. But I wouldn't pay to witness a real stoning. I attended the movie to get educated (and to stare at Shohreh Aghdashloo - that voice!), and yet I found myself having to stare at the floor many times in order to prevent myself from feeling ill.

The last time I felt this way was the beginning of Saving Private Ryan which I saw when I was much younger. Stoning Soraya is still many times worse than that.

I don't know what I am trying to say...other than the scene wouldn't have lost any of its effectiveness if it had been shortened to say, 10 minutes.

Outside of the stoning scene, it was an incredible movie. I would hate that the unbelievable violence at the end would keep someone from seeing this important film.
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Bgirl_Hamster
06/26/09

@nikkilove: Saving Private Ryan's violence still haunts me to this day. If this film is worse, I cannot see it. I just cannot.
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Sputnik_Sweetheart
06/26/09

In reply to Stoning Of Soraya M.: A Message Lost In Gratuitous Violence
I'm going to have to pick up the book because I don't think I could sit through a 20 minute stoning scene. I saw a documentary last year about honor killings in Palestine called Maria's Grotto, and I felt ill through out the entire film-- and they didn't even show anything.
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deeemer
06/26/09

@Sputnik_Sweetheart: What? What is this film? Wikipedia doesn't have a mention of it. How can I see this?
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Sputnik_Sweetheart
06/26/09

@deeemer: I saw it at the Boston Palestine Film Festival last fall. You can watch the film here:

[video.aol.com]

Also, here is the film's website:

[www.womeninstruggle.com]
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BrutallyHonestBabes (aka Mrs. Sarah.of.a.Lesser.Hobbit)
06/26/09

In reply to Stoning Of Soraya M.: A Message Lost In Gratuitous Violence
the title speaks perfectly to the film's blunt, ham-handed, morally unambiguous treatment of injustice...

Ham-handed aside, why should this story be treated in a morally ambiguous way? The story sounds pretty straight up to me.

Also, Shohreh Aghdashloo, I love you. So beautiful, and that voice! I want her to star in every movie. I have such a crush.
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HarpMadness
06/26/09

@BrutallyHonestBabes (aka Mrs. Sarah.of.a.Lesser.Hobbit): Yeah, it's weird that so many of them are coming away with that sort of attitude about it. Yes, this movie is undoubtably hard to watch. It should be. What did they expect? To gloss over the actual act would be a further betrayal of this woman and all women who have been killed this way.
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BrutallyHonestBabes (aka Mrs. Sarah.of.a.Lesser.Hobbit)
06/26/09

@HarpMadness: "Oh noes! They didn't give the patriarchy's point of view!" WTF.
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HarpMadness
06/26/09

@BrutallyHonestBabes (aka Mrs. Sarah.of.a.Lesser.Hobbit): Exactly! There's just something ...weird about them all harping on that one point.
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bluebears
06/26/09

In reply to Stoning Of Soraya M.: A Message Lost In Gratuitous Violence
The NPR review makes a really good point about how the extreme violence makes viewers less likely to see the movie and that that is problematic because arguably this is a movie that should appeal to a broader audience to better spread the message of the film.
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Bgirl_Hamster
06/26/09

@bluebears: Agreed. I am all for women's rights around the world and here in the states, but I cannot handle violence that I would witness in this film.

Though I do wonder, am I the one who should be seeing this movie? From reading Jezebel and other sites, I am aware of the atrocities committed worldwide against my gender. Perhaps it should be required viewing for UN leaders?
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broad
06/26/09

@bluebears: Apparently, then, NPR didn't see "The Passion of the Christ," because that movie was absolutely horrendous with the violence, and yet had a huge following.
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dianersb was bit by a zombie
06/26/09

In reply to Stoning Of Soraya M.: A Message Lost In Gratuitous Violence
I remember reading this book, and it was both devestating and powerful. I don't think I could handle a movie about it.
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feather_spin
06/26/09

@dianersb was bit by a zombie: I am actually considering picking up the book. I don't think I could sit through this film in a theatre, but I do want to hear her story.
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dianersb was bit by a zombie
06/26/09

@feather_spin: I would highly recommend the book. It was well-written, detailed, it gave a good amount of cultural context.

I read it after it was first published here in the U.S. and I still vividly remember it.
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Unsolicited Advice
06/26/09

In reply to Stoning Of Soraya M.: A Message Lost In Gratuitous Violence
By drawing out the horrific stoning ritual, it can't help but fuel the average person's ire toward ritualized practices of human cruelty. It is anything but subtle. The sounds of children banging stones in rhythmic preparation for massacre is haunting.

Whoops, that's the point! It's almost like these rags are upset that a 20-minute stoning scene is judgemental. Hint: these cultures should be judged, their behavior is barbaric, and we should all be horrified that there are parts of the world where such unrepentant madness is allowed to take place.

It's one thing to be tolerant, it's quite another to appease.
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bluebears
06/26/09

@Unsolicited Advice: no I think what they're saying is that this movie has an important message to depart and that message shouldn't be "watch this women die a horrible death" it should be this is a the reality for many women and lets recognize it and have a dialogue about it.
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