chris_miller-83959 I was fascinated by Iranian methods of interrogation of prisoners. It really looked like gas-lighting and twisting of reality. There was a haunting pretense of pseudo civility followed by pure evil.

Neddy Merrill Given the importance of a free press and the direction of the much- loved John Stewart, you just wanted this movie to be more entertaining or, at least, thought-provoking. Unfortunately, it produces both in somewhat limited quantities. Stewart, who clearly does snark on an Olympic-level does excel here at showing the ridiculousness of the Iranian charges against the Time reporter they imprison, beat and torture. He shows the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad regime to be petty, out-of-touch and trying to stay in power by fighting the previous overthrow of the Iranian government which did involve the involvement of the West to install the former Shah of Iran. Of course, covert CIA operations have long since been replaced by the coordinated actions of ground-level young people using Twitter and the deep web to coordinate. Stewart demonstrates these realities well and provides a realistic portrayal of the tactics used by these particular torturers (which resemble those used by torturers through history and geography). The movie just feels more like reportage than drama and the reporters eventual release isn't quite the end of "Shawshank Redemption". In short, still worth seeing if you enjoyed "Syriana" or a have a particular interest in global politics or history.

Johan Dondokambey The movie presents quite an imbalanced story as a whole. The story building is quite brilliant by starting off from the arrest. It then develops very nicely by backtracking and restarting from London. But then when it reaches the point of the actual imprisonment days, the movie really lacks the suspense and dramatization that it needs to top out that story built. The prison days lacks very much the intensity that prison scenes should have. Even with the blindfold element, the scenes don't really seem intimidating. The Javadi character is depicted with a contradicting nature of being rigid but also kind of afraid of his inmate, even this can be exploited for adequate suspense. The acting overall is quite nice. Gael Garcia Bernal played out smoothly as an Iranian. Dimitri Leonidas, Haluk Bilginer and Kim Bodnia each played their roles well enough to complete the needed story angles. and

Knox D Alford III (knoxiii) Why 10/10? It is a movie that informs, emotionally moves, incredibly well- paced, and offers the explanation of how & why there is universal hope for the world to achieve democracy & projects this hope in a positive direction in the telling of a tragic true story of systemic repression. Jon Stewart often jokes that his acting career was not stellar. Apparently, his tenure on The Daily Show has transformed him into a director with clarity of vision & purpose as he wrote the screenplay and directed "Rosewater". Please set aside your political predilections and watch this movie as an American valuing freedom & a person seeking to learn about the culture inside Iran. His direction was masterful, and this film was as lucky to find the perfect director, as the director was to find the perfect story. Again, let me stress, there is not a single sentence that can be classified as Republican or Democrat. Put simply, it is an American treasure, and an unforgettable film. It is no small feat to make a story such as this interesting throughout. The timing of the comedic moments are perfect and very funny. I haven't read how much the movie cost to make, and honestly I don't even care. It did the job of a Bruckheimer, or Weinstein movie, so the question is moot. There were no unnecessary shots or scenes & the only thing that might have been added was more detail before the credits about what happened after the story in Iran. It's not often a story with so much tragedy ends up giving one a renewed hope for the future of world civilization, but Jon Stewart, backed by a detailed true story accomplished exactly that. Mesmerizing, and unforgettable, this movie is one of the greatest of all- time. I easily stand by my 10/10 today and 20 years from now. Knox D. Alford, III