I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Prior to the Iranian revolution it was a place where people of all religions were allowed to flourish. This is the story of a prosperous Jewish family who abandon everything before they are consumed by the passions of revolutionaries. I wonder which person thought that casting Adrien Brody as a Jew with a weird accent and Salma Hayek as his wife? The film hardly finds it's mark or what it tries to achieve and honestly it's nowhere as good as it could have been or it should be especially with the talent involved. (0/10)

I normally don't review however, after reading some of the reviews that were poor I wanted to review this. The story is a horror story of a Jewish family escaping from the horror of an oppressive thug country. Having traveled to the Middle East and miles from Iran, having friends that went through this very scenario, this movie was hard to watch. The acting was good and I was well pleased with Adrian Brody's acting as well. Knowing what life is like there, this movie was riveting to watch and well made. Life there is a horror story for anyone that is not a zealot for the religious government. It is hard to believe that life is like this anywhere in the world today living in the west. People are treated with pure terror that are not brain washed or part of those systems. The story was well told and the acting was good. Nearly a 10 rating from me having witnessed life in that part of the world. I believe this is a good movie to watch if you don't mind suspense. I am not sure if what I have written is a spoiler but marked as such just to be safe. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to see how hard life is in that part of the world. Harsh living unless you are wealthy and part of the system. If not, life is harsh at best. Jews are not likely to live at all there let alone living well today. I have a dear friend, Jewish-Persian who fled during this period and some of the depictions are spot on. Well worth watching.

I am actually shocked at how bad the acting is in this film - I can't figure if it's the screenplay or the actual acting that slows the pace down considerably. I have read the book, which was an exhilarating read but nothing special, and being Iranian I could relate and understand the story within the context. My main issues with the film is that it comes across very insincere because it is spoken in English, phrases which would sound beautiful and more powerful in the native Persian, sound dramatic and silly, which detract from the film's earnestness. I understand if the director wants to reach an English - speaking audience, but as a British - Iranian watching non - Iranian actors speak with such a horrific Iranian accents that metamorphosis into Russian for some reason, is horrific. It is simply not credible.Naturally, Shohreh Aghdashloo's acting is impeccable as always - if anything she should have been chosen for the lead role instead of Salma. I would recommend the film 'The Stoning of Soraya M' if you'd like to better understand the social context following the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

In Iran, the city of Shiraz has traditionally been associated with great cultural achievements in poetry, literature, and magnificent gardens. Set at the inception of the Iranian revolution of 1979, "Septembers of Shiraz" focuses on the tyranny of the oppressive rule of the Ayatollah Khomeini, as directed against a businessman.The focal point of the film is a Jewish merchant of precious stones and jewelry, who is summarily arrested, tortured, and extorted of his fortune in order to survive. Adrien Brody delivers another complex and moving performance as the jeweler named Isaac. Salma Hayak-Pinault is outstanding as Isaac's wife, Farnaz. The action is taut and the pacing is deliberate, as Isaac's long period in captivity and his ordeal of torture are chronicled in lurid detail.One of the best scenes in the film is the moment where Isaac's captor named Mohsen, as played by Alon Aboutboul, engages Isaac in an extended conversation. The climax of the scene is when Isaac persuasively points to the circularity of their relationship and how Mohsen's extremism has made him captive to his obsession for revenge. Mohsen is no less a prisoner than Isaac. In this area, the film could have developed more completely the background on the repressive regime of the Shah of Iran and the barbarity of the methods used by his secret police, the dreaded SAVAK.Another key relationship in the film was that of Farnaz and the household maid Habibeh, given a remarkable screen interpretation by the husky-voiced Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo. In the ebb and flow of this relationship, Habibeh begins to side with the revolutionaries, yet is deeply conflicted due to the kindness shown to her by Farnaz and Isaac. In a moving scene near the end of the film, Habibeh comes around to support Issac and Farnaz, rejecting her son, who has turned informant on the family. In an ironic twist, however, the last we hear of the son is that he has been arrested by the new theocratic regime for his personal greed in looting precious stones from Isaac's business.In the DVD "Behind the Scenes" segment, it is clear that the film artists approached this film with great intelligence, including the screenwriter, director, and design team, who were all passionate about making a film that depicts not only a repressive regime at one moment in time in 1979, but for all forms of tyranny that refuse to honor reverence for life. Tragically, this story is all too familiar well into the twenty-first century.