Review of Not Without My Daughter

Introduction

This 1991 film is based on the best-selling `non-fiction` novel of the same name that traces the mis-fortunes of Betty Mahmoody, an American lady who married a native Iranian in Michigan, USA, and her small daughter.

To begin with, Betty`s relationship seemed like a romantic dream. A dark and handsome Doctor, Sayed Bozog Mahmoody, who appeared to be compassionate, intelligent, caring and …Americanised. Having wed, the couple went on to have a daughter, Mahtob, and, missing his family in Iran, `Moody` persuades his wife to visit his homeland for a two-week vacation. Naturally, she is reluctant to go. She understands that Iran is not a pleasant place for a Western woman and her daughter, but she sees that `Moody` is missing his family and, when he promises her that no harm will come to either her or their daughter, she agrees to the visit.

Once there, subjected to the influences of the zealous religious fundamentalism of his family, he decides to stay in Iran, and he insists that his wife and daughter stay too. Subjected to physical and mental abuse, Betty becomes nothing less than a prisoner in her husband`s squalid family home. She is treated with hateful contempt by his family and subjected to the most miserable cruelty in what seems a colourless and harsh world, steeped in religious extremism.

Eventually, as in the book, the real-life Betty Mahmoody escapes (with her Daughter) thanks to the courage and kindness of strangers on the way.

Sally Fields plays a convincing enough American wife, and Molina works hard at both sides of his role as her charming Doctor husband one moment, and her domineering, ruthless prison-warden the next.

Video

1.85:1 Anamorphic Wide-screen. This is a reasonable if unremarkable transfer with the only real signs of sparkling wear and tear on the opening titles.

Audio

A serviceable enough stereo soundtrack.

Features

A bunch of sub-titles, though no Iranian. Strange that. And that`s it.

Conclusion

This film, based on the book of the same name, recounts the nightmarish tail of an American Woman and her young daughter being held prisoner in Iran by a husband that they thought loved them and who they thought they could trust. It`s uncomfortable viewing, which is a tribute to the acting and production, and whilst it all seems horribly unlikely, it feels real enough when viewing the movie.

Molina is genuinely frightening as the brutal, abusive Islamic fundamentalist who refuses to allow his wife to leave with her daughter. The transition is like Jekyll to Hyde, and Sally Fields hysteria is reasonably well played too, if a little melo-dramatic. If she wants to leave, then he insists that she must leave her daughter behind to her fate in a world of religious fundamentalism where her basic freedoms would be greatly inhibited. She feels that she has no choice but to try and escape this cruel and brutal world with her daughter - hence the title of the film and book. And all this in a country where a female showing a few wisps of hair is enough to have gun-toting policeman shout at you - or so the movie suggests.

Unlike the book, the movie packs in this whole sorry tale into a very simplistic 90 minutes or so, and in the process grossly simplifies it to the point of grotesque stereotyping. Which is a shame, because Alfred Molina and Sally Field try hard to make it all work. Most Iranians are portrayed as mean-spirited sadists, and whilst it is the kindness of other Iranians that allow the mother and child to finally escape, the over-riding sense is of Iran as a twisted and evil place. Whatever your views (and unless you`ve lived there then they`re as useful as mine), I get the sinking feeling that this movie has done for Iran what `Midnight Express` did for Turkey - and whilst there may be truth in the tragic individual circumstances of the narrative, the film fails miserably to give any sense of balance, and could easily be construed as offensive at best (by native Iranians) or out and out racist at worst.