Rosewater (2014) Directed by Jon Stewart. Starring: Gael García Bernal, Kim Bodnia, Dimitri Leonidas. IMDB says: “Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari is detained by Iranian forces who brutally interrogate him under suspicion that he is a spy.”
“I’m not a spy!”
I start every morning by turning on the tv and checking my DVR. I see what guests were on The Tonight Show, Conan and at least watch the opening monologues, but I always always ALWAYS watch The Daily Show. No matter the guest, I’m interested because Jon Stewart has established himself enough to where I know I’ll enjoy the conversation he’ll have with his guests. For the last year or so, I’ve been getting constant reminders through the show that Jon Stewart was working on a film about the imprisonment of journalist Maziar Bahari. I wouldn’t say the movie was overhyped, but I would say my interest and expectation levels were a bit higher than normal. Maybe because I had heard so much about the movie and maybe because I just really like Jon Stewart. Regardless, I had no idea what to expect from this movie so I went to our art house/indie theater on a cold rainy day and watched Rosewater.
Rosewater is alright. Just alright. It’s not this grandiose important film you need to rush to the theatres and see. It’s a film that isn’t sure what it wants to be and at times feels underacted and overacted. It’s not a mess, it’s just confused. At times it’s a comedy, then it’s a drama, then a documentary, then a dark comedy, then a docu-drama, and it goes on. If it would’ve stuck to one style, I might have found myself more emotionally invested. It bobbles around through non-linear story telling which is fine, cause Stewart’s direction makes it work, but the whole movie feels like something is missing. Even now, hours after seeing the film, I just can’t put my finger on it.
The film is about journalist Maziar Bahari (Gael Garcia Bernal) and his coverage of the 2009 Iranian elections. In the beginning, the film feels like a documentary, focusing more on the Iranian elections rather than the evolvement of Bahari, but then when it switches to focus on Bahari and his imprisonment, it leaves you with a few unanswered questions regarding the elections. (Granted, this is all based on a true story so it wouldn’t be hard or unrealistic for us to just google what happened, but some resolution on this issue within the film would’ve been nice).
Gael Garcia Bernal (Motorcycle Diaries, The Science of Sleep) does a fine job, but he has issues keeping his accent in check and I don’t see or feel the anguish he’s going through. On the other side of the coin, his “specialist” that interrogates him (played by Nasser Faris) is constantly chewing through scenery to an almost outlandish point and kinda takes you out of the movie. You can tell he’s struggling with something, but his character is never truly fleshed out for us. But there are positives to the film. Stylistically, Stewart does some impressive camerawork and the movie is absolutely gorgeous. It paints Iran as a city in the midst of revolution instead of the wild west pile of rubble we see on the news. (Even though the whole movie was filmed in Jordan, so maybe Iran does look like that?) Even scenes of Bahari in solitary confinement look like illustrations come to life, they look so good. But as hard as the films tries to make you feel something, through imagery, music and dialogue, it just falls short.
The film is based on the book Bahari wrote, “Then They Came For Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity and Survival” and I’m sure it’s an important account documenting how it was for journalists during that time and the immense pressure and fear the Iranian government felt during the elections, but for me, the film didn’t once feel like that. Now I haven’t read the book, and maybe Stewart only had so much to work with because it is based on a true story, but something felt like it was missing. Even the interrogation scenes felt like they were pulled back and didn’t show the brutality of prison life. All that said, I think Stewart makes a fine director and I do look forward to seeing what he does next, even if his first step was a bit of a stumble. You can check this out in theatres, but if you’re truly interested, I’d just wait for the rental.
FTS SCORE: 63%