Director: Jon Stewart

Starring: Gael García Bernal, Kim Bodnia, Dimitri Leonidas,Haluk Bilginer, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Golshifteh Farahani, Claire Foy, Amir El-Masry, Nasser Faris, Jason Jones

Rating: 15

Running Time: 103mins

Released: March 20th, 2015

ROSEWATER is Jon Stewart’s directorial debut about an Iranian journalist who was imprisoned after the 2009 elections after being suspected as a spy.

The story is interesting, especially since the reason for Maziar Bahari’s imprisonment was due to a mock interview he took part in for Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show.

It is a well-shot film and there are some scenes that are particularly moving. However, ROSEWATER’s problem is with its tone; the story of a man who is held captive and tortured for 118 days for joking with American journalists is shocking. The film does attempt to show this horror, but fails due to the inclusion of too many jokes and comic scenes.

Some of these jokes are well-timed and appropriate at the beginning of the film. Towards the end, there is a bizarre increase in comedy, which is funny, but feels very misplaced. The ending discusses the number of journalists incarcerated all over the world for the crime of bearing witness. This is obviously an important and relevant issue to the film, but after the comedic scenes it just seems a bit peculiar.

This is disappointing because there are a lot of parts of ROSEWATER that are really well done; the way in which the plot unfolds is great and explains the story in a clear fashion.

Gael García Bernal is a decent lead in this film and, had the tone of the film been a little bit more serious, would have suited the role well. Most of the performances here were decent enough.

Overall, ROSEWATER is an enjoyable film with some moments of confusion. The tone of the film feels too lighthearted at some points, which ruins the serious effect of it.

Verdict

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