The Stoning of Soraya M.

I watched this movie three days ago and it still haunts me and has kept me up at night. The title of the movie reveals how this story ends but nothing could have prepared me for the brutality depicted in the inevitable stoning scene. Many other reviewers have summarized the plot so I won't go into that, I'll just say that this movie NEEDS to be seen. This woman's story needs to be told. The world needs to know the reality of life for women in patriarchal societies, and this movie tells just one of the many stories of women who have endured the kind of treatment Soraya did.

To sum it up, this film broke my heart. The two female leads are such strong actors that you feel like you're experiencing the events with them. You feel their disbelief, their rage, their fear, their helplessness, their pain. When Soraya bravely walks to the spot where she knows she will die, when she sees the pile of rocks, when the first stone strikes her... and the next one, and the next one...you feel what she feels. Even though you know from the beginning what happens to Soraya you keep hoping that somehow the events unfold differently than they do. But they don't, and the result is absolutely devastating.

Be forewarned, this film presents a graphic depiction of a public stoning. It is brutal, cruel and extremely disturbing. The scenes will stay with you. But that is the point. The world needs to know what Soraya and countless women like her have experienced, because educating ourselves is the only way atrocities like this will end.