Stoning and Witches

I have not thought of how this should be written, but then again, I promised to write something now and then.

A good and often misunderstood friend of mine made an appointment to have lunch and a movie with me this afternoon, in which I accepted because I needed something ‘light’ to take the weight off my mind. So we watched “The Season of the Witch” in which starred (not-so-favourite-but-tolerable) Nicholas Cage.

I thought it would be one of those historical fiction stories which chronicles the witch hunts during the early dark history of Christianity, but boy, was I wrong. And for that, I enjoyed the movie as it was more to dark fantasy. I would call this movie as ‘light’ despite the gore and violence, plus additional demonic fight scenes, because it was nothing compared to what I saw the night before.

Just last night, I was made to watch “The Stoning of Soraya M.” a movie which is “based on a book by journalist Freidoune Sahebjam, it tells the true story of Soraya, who was accused of adultery in a remote village in Iran in 1986.” I was told I must watch it in order to understand what is really going on.

From the very beginning, I knew it would be a gut-wrenching movie, much worst than any other gory teen flick as this is real and undeniable, and in the words of my encourager : “It’s still happening now.”

A tender scene in which Soraya’s aunt, Zahra supports her

Out of curiosity, I sat down like the obedient child and began the movie. The film is not easy to watch as the viewer would know what would ultimately be the end, but it is the amazing cast of how they portrayed the depths of the human kindness and also the evil within them that is undeniably heart-wrenching because it is all too real.

I told myself that I would not cry over it but in the end, I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing too. The excellent direction of the movie also made it all the more horrifying because the viewer could feel how the characters must have felt.

After the movie, I was treated to poetry and traditional songs in an attempt to soothe my assaulted emotions, and thank goodness it worked.