Real life with a spritz of wit
ROSEWATER
Cert 15, 103 mins
TALK show hosts tend not to become directors. It’s their job to watch the world go by and laugh wryly — not to create movies that might, in turn, get mocked. The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart, however, says he had to make this drama, which revolves around the arrest and detention of an Iranian journalist.
The film — as Stewart’s rivals at Fox were all too happy to note — went down like a cup of cold sick in the US. In other news, it’s a touching piece of work and very funny.
In 2009, Jason Jones, a correspondent for The Daily Show, went to Tehran and interviewed Newsweek writer Maziar Bahari (Gael García Bernal) as part of a jokey segment about America’s fraught relationship with Iran. A week later, Bahari was arrested.
During his stay in Evin Prison, he was told by his interrogator (Kim Bodnia, from The Bridge) that the skit proved he was an American spy.
The real reasons behind his arrest were, of course, more complicated. But the madness had only just started. Some 71 days later, Bahari was back on TV, this time in Iran, confessing to being a puppet for the Zionist-controlled West.
Would you confess to crimes you hadn’t committed? I know I would. I’d crack before my tormentors had even cleared their throats, which may be why I found Rosewater so inspiring.
Bahari isn’t a typical hero. He’s a nerd who, metaphorically, wets himself in front of the bullies. It’s only when he stops trying to “be a man” that he finds a way to hold his head high. Stewart’s smart script makes clear that this isn’t a conflict between educated and ignorant.
Bahari is a joker. What’s implied is that his oppressively odorous inquisitor (who squirts himself with rosewater every day, hence the title) is simply too distracted by his own problems to giggle.
What works less well is that these conversations take place in English, as opposed to Farsi.
However, Bernal is sweet, beauteous and febrile. He’s also Mexican. Though it’s obvious why Stewart didn’t cast an Iranian in the lead and/or doesn’t employ subtitles, something about Bahari’s experience has been lost in translation. On balance, though, the film’s a winner.
At one point, Bahari’s tormentor screams at him to make a phone call, then mutters: “You have to dial nine before you call out.” Real life is often a farce. And all of life is here.