Rosewater review: Jon Stewart's debut is full of invention and tension

Director: Jon Stewart; Screenwriter: Jon Stewart; Starring: Gael García Bernal, Kim Bodnia, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Jason Jones; Running time: 103 mins; Certificate: 15

Based on Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari's memoir Then They Came for Me: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival, Jon Stewart's directorial debut Rosewater is a fascinating and unflinching look at how the truth is treated as hostile by oppressive political regimes. It also highlights the courage of those who sacrifice their liberty by not surrendering their morality.

Rosewater charts the mistaken arrest, incarceration and interrogation of Bahari (Gael Garcia Bernal) after he is accused of being a spy by the Iranian authorities while covering their elections in 2009. His 'crime' was to record footage depicting the nation's internal turmoil and send it to broadcasters on the outside world. An interview with satirical American programme The Daily Show - then presented by this movie's writer-director Jon Stewart - only compounded matters.

Despite dealing with such noble themes, Stewart manages to imbue the movie with a satirical edge and a dreamy visual tone that make proceedings feel surreal at times. This clever juxtaposition with the real-life horrors serves to heighten the authenticity, while the narrative carefully straddles the line between absurdist humour and abundant horror. This is epitomised by an early scene in which Kim Bodnia's Iranian interrogator Javadi accuses Bahari of concealing pornography… on the basis that he has a DVD of The Sopranos. An amusing yet menacing moment that foreshadows later events.

[A] thought-provoking and superbly acted movie contains enough invention and tension to keep everyone absorbed. It bodes well for the future directorial outings for Jon Stewart.

The psychological powerplay between captor and captive provides Rosewater with its most compelling moments, as Bernal and Bodnia combine superbly for a cluster of claustrophobic encounters. Commendably, Javadi is not portrayed as 'evil' despite inflicting torture without justification. We delve beneath his skin for long enough to sense that he's meekly trying to do his job to the best of his abilities without questioning why. As he literally tries to push Bahari to confess, the journalist figuratively tries to prise his aggressor's eyes open.

Although many Rosewater viewers will be familiar with the outcome before viewing, this thought-provoking and superbly acted movie contains enough invention and tension to keep everyone absorbed. It bodes well for the future directorial outings for Jon Stewart, who manages the feat of being creative with the truth without sacrificing any veracity.