StyleSk8r
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Geraldine
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Anthony Iessi
Jon Stewart. Comedian. Astute political commentator. Filmmaker. He isn't known for the latter, but he should be. Since he is long finished with his reign on The Daily Show, he must consider making more films. Rosewater is a triumph. A strong cry for resistance of despotic regimes worldwide. A loud roar for freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Maziar Bahari is not fake news. He has a story that makes us all thankful that the monstrous Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is no longer in power. The interrogation scenes made me cringe in compassion for all political prisoners. Jon Stewart wanted to make a powerful statement and he succeeded. He's proved to be a provocateur with his on-stage persona.. but his filmmaking skills are equally as provoking.
Sandy Lynn
This was a good directorial debut film. Good dramatic beginning, great acting by Bernal, good cinematography. However, it loses momentum and intensity once he's imprisoned. It does show how ridiculous and ignorant the Iranian interrogators were, but does not really adequately reflect what Bahari was no doubt going through emotionally. It was a dispassionate.The characters, even including Bahari, could have used more depth. We glean that his father and his sister were true freedom fighters, that his co-workers in other countries don't really understand all the nuances of what's going on in the country, that his wife and mother love him and that Bahari prefers the safe path of reporting over the path of freedom fighter, but without sufficient depth. As a result the film was more interesting than it was moving.
Steve Pulaski
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.
