Telluride Film Festival
It is fairly common for a director to choose a protagonist that they identify with to some degree – after all, why devote years of your life to telling someone’s story if you cannot connect to them? Thus, Christopher Nolan directs films about obsessive heroes, David O. Russell has recently been looking at characters trying to reinvent themselves, and Woody Allen devotes movie after movie to sexually tense intellectuals (just to name a few).
At first glance, few similarities appear between Jon Stewart, the director of the film “Rosewater,” and its subject, Maziar Bahari. Stewart is, of course, a wildly popular satirical newscaster who has left an indelible mark on American political discourse. Bahari, on the other hand, is an Iranian-Canadian journalist who dared to document the tense 2009 elections in his home country. They did happen to somewhat cross paths, though, as Bahari appeared on a segment for The Daily Show.
This humorous interview was entertainment for Americans and evidence for the Iranian government, which was looking to clamp down on dissidents in the wake of former President Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election. Bahari spent nearly four months in jail there, much of it in solitary confinement, while being interrogated ruthlessly as an enemy of the state. “Rosewater” may very well exist as a film to placate the guilt in Stewart’s soul for his small role in causing this pain.
Yet self-absolution is far too simplistic an explanation for the film, as Stewart clearly identifies a kindred spirit in Bahari. They face remarkably different circumstances and stakes in their line of work, obviously, but Stewart and Bahari both speak truth to power by relying on principles of logic and reason. In the face of resistance, neither is afraid to use to ridicule the institutional folly. Whether Bahari actually embodies these characteristics is anybody’s guess. It is not hard, however, to imagine Stewart standing in the holding cell delivering his lines.
Marshall and the Movies 
Recent Comments