Rosewater
I took a trip to the Genesis Cinema in Whitechapel last Wednesday following a conversation with my friend Joanna in which she questioned my belief that you couldn't find a cinema ticket for . I am pleased to be proved wrong with Genesis offering £4 tickets on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Rosewater tells the story of Maziar Bahari, who documented the public protests after the 2009 general election in Iran. He was subsequently imprisoned by the Iranian government for five months having been accused of espionage. It's Jon Stewart's directorial debut with a story that indirectly involved him, with Bahari filming one of The Daily Show's trademark mock field pieces with correspondant Jason Jones (playing himself in the film in a recreation of the interview).
In the piece, Jones essentially pretends to be an American spy. The footage is subsequently used by the Iranians to demonstrate that Bahari is working against Iran. This revelation is one of the film's few blackly comic moments, along with Bahari attempting to convince his interrogator that he is some sort of sexual deviant, graphically describing something called a "Persian Massage".
Largely though the retelling is straightforward, starting with a flashback of Bahari leaving his pregnant wife in London to cover the Iranian election. Despite huge popular support for opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wins a comfortable majority, leading to widespread protests. Bahari films a scene of violence from the state against the protesters, in the knowledge that it will in all likelyhood be traced back to him.
He is soon arrested at his mother's home and incarcerated. Entrusted with the task of breaking Bahari's spirit is a man known only as "Rosewater". Both insecure and highly volatile, his conflict with Bahari carries the rest of the film. He attempts various means of psychologically torturing him, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. The blindfold that he periodically insists that Bahari wears becomes a recurring motif, symbolic of the Iranian state's desire to maintain control over its people.
Gael Garcia Bernal puts in a strong performance as Bahari, especially in his scenes of particular mental anguish. In these, he begins to imagine conversations with his father and later his sister (both deceased), who were imprisoned by the Shah and Ayatollah Khomeini respectively. He lacks the stomach for the revolutionary battles waged by his father, who identified as a communist, who he argues employed similarly opressive tactics to the Iranians. In one scene, he is forced into giving a televised false confession of spying. Precisely how conflicted Bahari felt in doing this, particularly given his family history is a point that gets glossed over. It's certainly something that I'd like to have seen examined further.
The upshot of course was that Bahari was eventually released in exchange for a substantial amount of money in bail. Rosewater is not a particularly stylish film but it's a solid first outing from Stewart and one that not only highlights the despotic nature of the Ahmadineajad regime but also the risks undertaken by journalists across the world's volatile regions.
Rosewater tells the story of Maziar Bahari, who documented the public protests after the 2009 general election in Iran. He was subsequently imprisoned by the Iranian government for five months having been accused of espionage. It's Jon Stewart's directorial debut with a story that indirectly involved him, with Bahari filming one of The Daily Show's trademark mock field pieces with correspondant Jason Jones (playing himself in the film in a recreation of the interview).
In the piece, Jones essentially pretends to be an American spy. The footage is subsequently used by the Iranians to demonstrate that Bahari is working against Iran. This revelation is one of the film's few blackly comic moments, along with Bahari attempting to convince his interrogator that he is some sort of sexual deviant, graphically describing something called a "Persian Massage".
Largely though the retelling is straightforward, starting with a flashback of Bahari leaving his pregnant wife in London to cover the Iranian election. Despite huge popular support for opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wins a comfortable majority, leading to widespread protests. Bahari films a scene of violence from the state against the protesters, in the knowledge that it will in all likelyhood be traced back to him.
He is soon arrested at his mother's home and incarcerated. Entrusted with the task of breaking Bahari's spirit is a man known only as "Rosewater". Both insecure and highly volatile, his conflict with Bahari carries the rest of the film. He attempts various means of psychologically torturing him, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. The blindfold that he periodically insists that Bahari wears becomes a recurring motif, symbolic of the Iranian state's desire to maintain control over its people.
Gael Garcia Bernal puts in a strong performance as Bahari, especially in his scenes of particular mental anguish. In these, he begins to imagine conversations with his father and later his sister (both deceased), who were imprisoned by the Shah and Ayatollah Khomeini respectively. He lacks the stomach for the revolutionary battles waged by his father, who identified as a communist, who he argues employed similarly opressive tactics to the Iranians. In one scene, he is forced into giving a televised false confession of spying. Precisely how conflicted Bahari felt in doing this, particularly given his family history is a point that gets glossed over. It's certainly something that I'd like to have seen examined further.
The upshot of course was that Bahari was eventually released in exchange for a substantial amount of money in bail. Rosewater is not a particularly stylish film but it's a solid first outing from Stewart and one that not only highlights the despotic nature of the Ahmadineajad regime but also the risks undertaken by journalists across the world's volatile regions.
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