A tip: If you are born a female, make sure it's not in Iran.

They say it themselves: If you're accused of having an affair, and you're a woman, it's not up to them to prove you're guilty, but for you to establish your innocence. Of course with men, it's the other way around. You've bore your violent husband two girls and two boys and been married to him for twenty years. Suddenly one day, he decides to hitch up with a 14 year old girl instead. That's gratitude for you. But you won't give him a divorce, due to the fact it would leave you virtually penniless. So, he does the only thing a nasty bastard could do... he makes up a cock and bull story about you having an affair with a neighbour... and enlists the help of the local corrupt law officials in his plan. And the punishment for such a crime is... well, look at the title.

The Stoning Of Soraya M, as told by Soraya's aunt after the event to a journalist, is one of the hardest films to watch that I've seen in many a moon. Throughout, the sense of injustice and frustration at such an unfair situation makes you want to scream, and the uncomfortableness factor is moved up about 50 notches at the stoning itself... when everyone, from Soraya's sons to her own father takes it in turns to chuck rocks at her while she's half buried in the soil. Of course, the injuries are graphically displayed... Making this possibly the most upsetting final act since Jesus's fate was sealed in The Passion Of The Christ. Both are extended slow deaths where nothing is left to the imagination, so make sure you're mentally prepared before submitting yourself to such a brutal experience.

Brilliantly acted, and echoing with the ring of truth, as the epilogue reminds us: this sort of barbarism is still taking place all over the world. We may THINK we're civilised, but incidences like this prove we still have a LONG way to go. Disgraceful. 7/10

Soraya's husband Ali has tired of Soraya after having four children with her, and wants to marry the 14-year-old daughter of one of his prisoners. He can't afford two wives, so he demands a divorce from Soraya, who refuses for economic reasons. Instead, Ali conspires with the local mullah — a fraud who has to keep Ali from exposing him — to frame Soraya for infidelity. The "evidence" is laughably transparent, but as Soraya notes in the film, "voices of women do not matter here".

Her aunt Zahra, played by Shohreh Aghdashloo, provides the central voice for the film. It's mostly told in flashback as she explains what happened to the journalist who only came to town because his car broke down. Aghdashloo provides the voice of conscience and reason in a town gone mad, a village where Soraya's own father calls her an unprintable name and where her sons join in the stoning. Even with most of the film in subtitles, it is easy to follow and heartbreaking and enraging to watch.

The performances are universally excellent. Aghdashloo, an Iranian ex-patriate herself, brings Zahra and her defiance and despair to life. Mozhan Marno portrays Soraya beautifully, especially in the execution scene. Jim Caveziel plays the journalist, and while he doesn't get much screen time, he does well with what he has. The villagers are portrayed with surprising nuance. Navid Negahban provides a malevolent presence as Ali, while David Diaan's Ebrahim winds up being perhaps the worst of the villains — a good man who refuses to stop an injustice he knows to be happening.

It's brilliant, infuriating, sad, powerful, and oddly enough, ends on a somewhat uplifting note.

In 1986, Sahebjam is Parisian journalist who is driving to the border. His car breaks down in a remote desolate village Kupayeh, Iran. He is approached by Zahra (Shohreh Aghdashloo) who tells him about the tyrannical treatment of her niece Soraya by the men in power. The Mullah is a former criminal. His former jailer Ali blackmails him to force Ali's wife Soraya accept being discarded while Ali gets a new wife. Meanwhile Soraya will become the Mullah's temporary wife or a holy whore. Zahra stops the Allah as Soraya reveals that Ali beats her. Ali has made a deal with a rich doctor about to be executed to save his life and marry his 14 year old daughter.

This is one depressing, horrific drama. It's like the light of humanity can't penetrate this movie. It's a movie where I want to scream at the screen. The movie is hard to watch which culminates in one of the toughest scenes around. The stoning is scarier than any horror movie. It is shocking and incredibly hard to take. However it's worthwhile to see because simply reading about it doesn't deliver the true brutality.