"Septembers of Shiraz" one of my most favorite movies, is a touchy example of the 'Summary' stated above. You can say, it has forced me to realize this real life truth.This movie is a dramatization version of a famous award winning novel:"The Septembers of Shiraz (2007) is a critically acclaimed debut novel by Iranian American author 'Dalia Sofer.' It narrates the lives of a well-to-do Iranian family during and after the Iranian revolution which additionally overthrew the Shah and ushered in the Islamic republic." ................(Wikipedia)Directed by 'Wayne Blair', Screenplay from 'Hanna Weg' and mind blowing appearances of the stars like 'Salma Hayek' & 'Adrien Brody' a perfect 'Thriller' was released on June 24, 2016 in the USA.From my point of view there is nothing so much there for saying or reviewing rather than watching the movie full length at a time. I'm pretty much sure that it will thrill you away. Here I'm just pointing at some major issues relevance with this film.It's Plot reflects that - While ruling Parties were marginalized or outlawed, Social and political protest was often met with censorship, surveillance, or harassment. Along with illegal detention and torture were common.Adrien Brody and Salma Hayek are none-too-convincing Tehran Jews caught up in the Iranian Revolution in this adaptation of Dalia Sofer's bestseller - "Septembers of Shiraz".Jeweler Isaac (Adrien Brody) is a self-made man who considers himself apolitical, he and his wife, Farnez (Salma Hayek), got rich catering to the royals and their cronies. Their teenage son, Parviz (Jamie Ward), is packed off to boarding school in the U.S., in effect fleeing the political turmoil like many of the privileged Iranian class. But his parents are reluctant to leave their homeland with their younger daughter, Shirin (Ariana Molkara), delaying that decision until too late."Indeed, the revolution aroused fears among Iranian Jews and around two thirds of the community left the country." ................ as per an International survey"An additional information - At least 13 Jews have been executed in Iran since the Islamic revolution, most of them for either religious reasons or their connection to Israel. For example, in May 1998, Jewish businessman Ruhollah Kakhodah-Zadeh was hanged in prison without a public charge or legal proceeding, apparently for assisting Jews to emigrate." Finally I want to add, out of the many catastrophes that the Jewish people have been through during the revolution, "Septembers of Shiraz"s story was one of the first with a happy ending.As an exceptional movie lover - watch it! Realize it!

If you are old enough to remember the brutal history of the deposing of the Shah of Iran, this movie provides a small slice of the life during this takeover. The conversion to theocracy in Iran led to draconian measures placed on its citizens and to opportunists of the supporters of the regime to enjoy personal triumph at the cost of those who had been successful in their own lives. We should not forget that Ayatollah Khomeini was the new "god" and had usurped the Shah. His ideals were not unlike a fundamentalist Taliban ideology. The demand to follow the koran and force the end of Iranian "westernization" was foremost the demand of the new regime. The fact that our protagonist is a Jewish jeweler with considerable success under the Shah led to jealous behaviour on the part of the new guard. It also portrays some heroic moments by honest Irani citizens as they help the forsaken jewller.The movie was well made and well acted. It has a very good script and that fact alone makes for a good movie. It has thrills, tension, and suspense. It is emotional as anyone watching the movie will recognize the brutality against fellow humans and remind people to be wary of dictatorships be they a Shah or a religious figure. Hatred is hatred by anyone. The movie provides a better insight into the current Iran. Watch the movie if not for the history lesson, then because it is a good movie. Above standard at any measure.

"Septembers of Shiraz" is a well made and very well acted film...but I cannot see many people wanting to see it for several obvious reasons. First, it's about the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and a lot of people just don't find this a 'sexy' subject for films. Second, no matter how how do such a film, people will find fault in how the Revolution is handled. Third, and most importantly, the film is incredibly unpleasant with scenes of torture...and a lot of folks don't want to watch someone being tortured. All these conspire to make this a difficult film to say the least.The film begins as the Revolution is beginning. No context whatsoever is given to the viewer--nothing about the previous brutal regime of the Shah nor about the ideology of the Ayatollah and his followers. All you really learn is that the Shah was awful and the people who followed were awful. I know more about it because I am a retired history teacher...but the average viewer, particularly younger ones, will feel a bit confused. I think the reason they did this related to the second problem above...and so they apparently tried to make the film as apolitical and a personal film as they could instead. The story is about a Jewish family and their particular experiences during this time. The husband, Isaac (Adrien Brody), is arrested...though you never learn exactly why. It seems as if he was arrested simply because he was rich and he undergoes both mental and physical torture from the new Republican Guard. During this time, his wife (Salma Hayek) waits and waits and watches everything they owned get stolen from thieves...all in the name of the Revolution. Will the husband be released and what of the family?I noticed some folks complained about this film because the look wasn't just right--such as the wrong sorts of cars being shown in Iranian roads. Well...considering it was NOT filmed in Iran, and I STRONGLY DOUBT the government would have allowed this, this sort of complaint seems bizarre at best. The film was made in Bulgaria...and I guess they tried their best. I'll say no more about this.Overall, the film is very well made and compelling...and unpleasant. Because it is a story about a real family, however, I cannot just dismiss it. It's worth seeing IF you are up to the task.

This was a film I was looking forward to seeing. It is about a Jewish businessman – Isaac (Adrien Brody) who is a successful jeweller. He is married to the wonderful Farnez – Selma Hayek in late 1970's Iran. We get some scene setting but not a lot about the toppling of the Shah and very little about Ayatollah Khomeini; just that The Revolutionary Guard have taken over .Then the Guard come calling and Isaac is arrested and their whole World goes south in a very bad way. Now this is not a true story it is based on real events and those events are portrayed in a seemingly black and white way that supporters of the Ayatollah will see as very one sided. There is an attempt to balance the books but it sort of lacks credibility. Some of the scenes too were a bit of a stretch – but to say any of the detail could be a plot reveal – which I do not want to do.The acting is all very good, but there is some unfortunate CGI, blue screen and the period detail is all wrong. They do not have a single Hillman Hunter on the street shots and at the time 90% of all cars were Hunters, they even assembled them there. The action is also very lame and the actions of some of the players lacked all credulity, it was almost sanitised as I remember all too well the carnage that was shown on our screens at the time. It would have been nice to have had a better portrayal of what actually took place to a country that was at a cross roads in its history and some could say is still paying the price today.