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Bookmark this pageNot Without My Daughter (1990)
Director: Brian Gilbert
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
According to her Iranian-born husband Moody (Molina), Betty Mahmoody (Field) is as American as apple pie. Certainly Moody's family reunion in Tehran ain't her idea of a holiday, and no sooner have they stepped on foreign soil than Betty is accosted by shrieking women beseeching her to cover her head. Things get worse. She's informed that Moody plans to stay in Iran and raise their little girl as a Muslim. The law strips Betty of all her rights, while Moody prevents her from leaving the house. Based on Betty Mahmoody's real-life story, the film emphasises her isolation, surrounded by an incomprehensible language and culture, and by vehement anti-American sentiments. Field captures the sense of outrage to perfection, puffy-eyed, screaming and plotting escape. Appropriately enough, the film is strictly deglamorised; combined with the lack of sympathetic characters, it all adds up to difficult, compelling viewing as we're drawn into the deepening nightmare.Author: CM
User reviews of this film
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- Christy said...
- Posted on Sep 11 2009 03:03 I went to Palestine before with my daughter and my husband actual did something similar. Only his family wanted to help me get back to the US because i was so scared.
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- nastazia said...
- Posted on Aug 06 2009 06:13 not without my dauther
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- Majid Jamshidi said...
- Posted on May 13 2008 09:18 I wonder why Hollywood can never expose some of the truth behind the post-1979 tragedies that are unfolding in Iran. Why don't they make a film based on TRUTH(!) about the American establishmen's campaign that brought Khomeini to power in Iran. After all, wasn't Iran a heaven for women until 1979, when an Anglo-American puppet named Khomeini was placed in the seat of political power in Iran through an Anglo=American coup called the 1979 Revolution!
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Cast & crew
Director: Brian Gilbert
Producer: Harry J Ufland, Mary Jane Ufland
Cast: Sally Field, Alfred Molina, Sheila Rosenthal, Roshan Seth, Sarah Badel, Mony Rey, George Corraface full cast
Duration: 116 mins
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