How sad is this?

best movie i've ever seen.

A lot of fun.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

When I first heard about this, I thought it was going to be a documentary, because I wouldn't have expected Jon Stewart to tackle a biographical feature. There's a lot of things wrong with this movie. For example, when I envision detainment in an Iranian prison, this is certainly not the way I'd imagine it. Too soft. My portrayal of the treatment of alleged spies in Islamic countries would probably be much worse. He was detained for almost 4 months, which in terms of sentencing, and *doing time* in general isn't considered a real sentence. The only scene which sort of seemed authentic is when the *torturer* threatened to shoot Gael, but it would've been better if he'd done the same thing for a week and not just once.All in all, it's a nice little story. After reading up on Maziar Barhadi, I'm not quite sure what to think. Who knows if someone's really a spy or not? He could've just as easily been a spy, still. This movie is very light, romanticized, liberal propaganda. I'm giving this movie a 4.8/10 just because it's low budget. Sort of.

Here's Hoping that Satirist and now Film Writer/Director Jon Stewart has Compensated for the Guilt He must have Felt after a Segment on "The Daily Show" Indirectly or perhaps Directly led to the Arrest of Journalist Maziar Bahari in Iran on the Charges of being a Spy (that was play-acted in the TV Show segment).Stewart Shows some Flair for Cinema in the First Half with some Effective, if Artsy Arrangements of Images Superimposed on Landscapes that is a Surreal Opening to an all too Real Second Half. Also, it is the First Half of the Movie that Grips with its Diving into the Counter Culture of Iran's Youth Movement, its Braggadocio and Behavior that almost Begs for Attention from the Police State.After the Controversial Election and its Aftermath of Riots that Journalist Bahari is Covering and His immediate Arrest and Imprisonment, the Film Takes a much more Sombre Tone and the Filmmaking Flourishes and maybe even its Purpose is Succumbed by the Interrogation and Captivity Scenes. Although Stewart shows some Ability to alleviate some Boredom with Flashbacks and Dream Sequences, by the Third Act the Movie does Feel like it has Run its Course of Insight and Criticism of the Iranian Political System. Overall, it is a Story Worth Watching and Remembering, still very Topical, and it's a Solid, if Wanting, Effort from Jon Stewart.Political enough, Artistic enough, and Profound enough to be Recommended and Despite its Low Budget Limitation is Better than the Best Picture Winner of a Few Years Back that also was Set In Iran, Albeit in the 1970's.

Give journalist and satirist Jon Stewart credit in the regard that, while he hosts a satirical news program on Comedy Central, he doesn't stay confined to the bubble of his network. With his directorial debut Rosewater, Stewart branches out and acknowledges the hugely topical issue of international journalists covering stories in places where uprisings are ongoing and are arrested, interrogated, tortured, and often killed for simply bearing witness to certain public events. It's a frightening reality, and Rosewater's theatrical release came around the time when numerous beheadings of journalists by the Islamic State were hitting mainstream Television, with front-page news basically justifying the existence of this particular film.The film recalls the true story of Maziar Bahari, an Iranian journalist who was arrested and interrogated whilst covering the 2009 Iranian election. The wonderful character actor Gael García Bernal plays Bahari, an idealistic young journalist who travels to Iran, leaving behind a newly pregnant wife. Bahari meets several young Iranian radicals, who are supporting the progressive candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi over the controversial, incumbent dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He carries his camera throughout the land, and captures enormous, violent protests when Ahmadinejad wins the presidency by more than half the vote.Bahari is eventually arrested and mistaken for being a spy, on account of a satirical American Television program he did (where Jon Stewart's personal side of the story comes into play, as Bahari's real-life captivity was based off his appearance on an episode of Stewart's program The Daily Show). As a result, he is kept in solitary confinement, blindfolded and interrogated by a vicious man (Kim Bodnia) he only identifies by the smell of rosewater on his clothes.The captivity scenes are intriguing because of how Stewart confines us inside the four walls of Bahari's cold cell, rarely letting us peek at the outside world. Films that involve trapping lead characters should almost always do everything they can to keep us inside the room with them, as it's a tactic that allows for unblinking voyeurism into the character's situation and makes us feel just as trapped as he or she is. In this case, Stewart is smart to keep us in solitary confinement along with Bahari, only venturing out to show momentary reactions of family and news reports of his captivity once the information hits the mainstream airwaves.Stewart's directing, however, is largely uncharacteristic of anything I can immediately note, aside from a few intriguing unsteady shots. He doesn't adopt any kind of artful style during the entire film, which isn't a huge issue, and keeps every aesthetic relatively muted or on a basic level, ostensibly not to detract from the story, which Stewart clearly wants to be told. Bernal, once again, does a wonderful job at portraying subtle traits that make up an entire character; watch how Bernal's Bahari communicates largely in gestures and kind mannerisms, even to his captors. This was evidently something that wasn't explicitly stated in the screenplay, but something Bernal decided to carry out through his body language and his overall attitude throughout the film, making for a character that is instantly likable and a complete gentleman throughout.As stated, the timeliness of Rosewater really couldn't have been better. The safety and overall welfare of international journalists is an issue that deserves attention, and, as shown from this particular film, the repercussions of harm's way can be brutal (or even more brutal than show here). With that said, Stewart does his best not to make Rosewater emotionally manipulative, though he somewhat does during the later scenes involving Bahari's wife and the circulation of his captivity. Nonetheless, there's a lot going on here that warrants attention, and even if you separate the project from the name behind it, this is still a film well worth seeing, not only for its topical nature, but for Bernal's performance.Starring: Gael García Bernal, Kim Bodnia, and Shohreh Aghdashloo. Directed by: Jon Stewart.

The movie presents quite an imbalanced story as a whole. The story building is quite brilliant by starting off from the arrest. It then develops very nicely by backtracking and restarting from London. But then when it reaches the point of the actual imprisonment days, the movie really lacks the suspense and dramatization that it needs to top out that story built. The prison days lacks very much the intensity that prison scenes should have. Even with the blindfold element, the scenes don't really seem intimidating. The Javadi character is depicted with a contradicting nature of being rigid but also kind of afraid of his inmate, even this can be exploited for adequate suspense. The acting overall is quite nice. Gael Garcia Bernal played out smoothly as an Iranian. Dimitri Leonidas, Haluk Bilginer and Kim Bodnia each played their roles well enough to complete the needed story angles. and