The Stoning of Soraya M.

Posted by Bruce Edward Walker
on Thursday, June 25, 2009

Tomorrow, June 26, theaters across the nation will begin screening for the general public “The Stoning of Soraya M.” This drama reenacts the true story of an Iranian woman falsely accused of adultery and punished according to sharia law. The film is produced by Stephen McEveety (“The Passion of the Christ”) and features an impressive international cast.

Since the movie’s title gives the climax away, rest assured that the film contains much that is suspenseful. Jim Caviezel portrays French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam. Much like Spencer Tracy’s character in the 1955 John Sturges film, “Bad Day at Black Rock,” Sahebjam chances upon a town with a dark secret – in this instance, the stoning of the title character through the manipulations of a husband who wishes to take a 14-year-old child as a wife and fears he cannot afford to maintain two households.

When Soraya refuses her husband a divorce, he puts in place the dramatic machinery leading to her death. The filmmakers ably display how a less-than-free society can be easily corrupted, but doesn’t adopt the too easy tropes that all men are bad, all women victims – or even that Islam is a bad religion.

I highly recommend this film, but must warn that the violent act of stoning is graphically depicted. The direction of the script is taut and suspenseful, and the acting and production values superb.

Stephen McEveety: "I believe this is a very pro-Muslim movie. From the beginning we approached this as very respectful toward the true Islamic faith. This wonderful, beautiful Muslim woman keeps her faith to the end. She’s representative of the Muslim faith. The film is an illustration of how any religion can be abused in a repressive environment. It’s a true story made by persons familiar with the world Soraya M. lived in. We have shown it to Middle Eastern audiences and they have embraced it."
(Go to website for the rest of the interview)

The Stoning of Soraya M.
http://blog.acton.org/archives/10807-interview-with-stephen-mceveety-producer-of-the-stoning-of-soraya-m.html

Suffering and the Will of God

© 2005 by John Mallon
Catholic Online

Most of us in the West have been raised on sort of a reward/punishment system. In a nominally functional home if we were “good” we were rewarded and felt good, if we misbehaved we were punished and felt bad.

Consequently, as adults we tend to carry those paradigms around with us. This can be a problem in the spiritual life if we project these patterns on God’s care for us. When things go wrong, or painful things happen in the normal course of life, for example, the death of a loved one, a brutal financial crisis out of which it takes us years climb, a bitter divorce, etc. We think if bad things happen to us we must have done something wrong. We may tend to cry, “What have I done to deserve this?”

We are not perfect, but very likely, we’ve done nothing to deserve it. These things happen in a fallen world. This is especially poignant when an innocent person is the victim of violence. People sin. And sin results, ultimately, in death. When someone sins innocent people suffer. The sinner suffers too, but that is the subject for another article.

A terrorist blows up a building killing hundreds or even thousands of innocent people including children, plunging the survivors and their families into a lifetime of trauma and grief. They did nothing to deserve this. One person or a group of people made a decision to commit the sin of murder and the result is dead and suffering survivors and families. Victims.

Sometimes we have a tendency to think that if we make the decision to follow Christ and grow in the spiritual life our lives will smooth out. And this will happen to a degree if we abandon a life of chaotic sin. As we grow in repentance and transformation there will be healing from the damage we’ve done to ourselves. But sometimes others damage us. We are sinned against. Being a Christian does not provide immunity from suffering. Following Christ necessarily leads to the Cross. . . . . . .

Suffering and the Will of God
© 2005 by John Mallon
Catholic Online
http://www.catholic.org/featured/reality.php?ID=2437

Hope and Suffering

I found this quote wonderfully profound, but also very challenging to me in a very personal way.

We can try to limit suffering, to fight against it, but we cannot eliminate it. It is when we attempt to avoid suffering by withdrawing from anything that might involve hurt, when we try to spare ourselves the effort and pain of pursuing truth, love, and goodness, that we drift into a life of emptiness, in which there may be almost no pain, but the dark sensation of meaninglessness and abandonment is all the greater. It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it, and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love.

Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi (Saved in Hope)