Rose Water (May Ward) (2024)

Rose Water (May Ward)

One could guess that Jon Stewart’s first film as a director would be a comedy, considering he hosted “The Daily Show” for over 15 years. But the movie is Rosewater and it is not funny though it has its comic moments.

Rosewater is based on the true story of Iranian-born Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari (Gael García Bernal) who, in 2009, went to Iran to cover the presidential election for Newsweek magazine. During his time there, he appeared on a segment of “The Daily Show” interviewed by Jason Jones. That appearance led to his arrest and subsequent 118 day imprisonment at Evin prison where he was accused of being a spy for foreign governments.

He was helpless against the brutal treatment inflicted upon him by his interrogator Javadi (Kim Bodnia), so named because of the rosewater-scented cologne that always announced his arrival even if Bahari was blindfolded.

Bahari must have experienced a roller coaster of emotions as a prisoner, and Mexican actor Gael García Bernal, best known for “The Motorcycle Diaries,” plays him accordingly. The most chilling line in the film comes from Rosewater’s boss: “You must not just take his blood. You must take his hope.”

As I walked out of the theater, it was hope that I felt; hope is one of the three theological virtues along with faith and love. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men’s activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven” (CCC, no. 1818).

Despite being held in isolation and literally kept in darkness most of the time because he was blindfolded whenever he left his cell, Bahari found hope anyway. At one point, Rosewater allows Bahari a moment outside. Standing blindfolded in the small prison yard, Bahari reaches above his head to feel the warmth of the sun for a couple seconds on his hand.

Rosewater is also another in a line of journalism movies that depict professional journalists making sacrifices in pursuit of the truth: “Veronica Guerin,” “The Killing Fields,” “The Insider,” “Good Night and Good Luck,” etc. When Bahari finds himself among one of the protests that broke out following the election, he hesitates to film it because he’s afraid it will have negative consequences for him.

His friend Davood (Dimitri Leonidas) challenges him on this; referring to Bahari’s camera he says, “You have a real weapon and you choose not to use it.” Journalists sometimes get portrayed as crazy people who go after stories with no regard for their subjects’ privacy. I don’t think this is fair representation; I imagine many journalists are serious professionals who genuinely want to do their best as information providers. Maziar Bahari continues to actively campaign for imprisoned Iranian reporters today.

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