IanPhillips Adapted from the book of the same name by Betty Mahmoody, the film was directed by Brian Gilbert, screenplay written by David W. Rintels, and filming locations ranged from Ankara, Turkey, Neve Ilan, Israel, and in Atlanta, Georgia. It's a thoroughly well-acted, very absorbing drama, shrewdly evoking the central character's escalating nightmare as she comes to terms with being held hostage by her husband and being totally powerless to do anything about it. What alarms me more than anything is that, despite a number of reviews praising the film, one reviewer stated "Sally Field displays a lot of over-heated anguish". Is that person for real? I think the viewer is sympathetic to her ploy, as she was fooled into visiting Iran, and then was forced to conform to their culture, which is very primitive when it comes to women. Field has many scenes where she is able to show off her acting abilities and her performance never once shrinks, delivering a powerful turn, as does Alfred Molina in the less-sympathetic role. There is a beautiful performance from a very young and gifted Sheila Rosenthal as their young daughter, Mahtob, and displays acting abilities that are incredible for her age. Inevitably, this situation she and her mother find themselves in, affects her the most being just a six-year-old girl. I won't reveal the ending, but I can certainly say it is intense, very edgy, nail-biting stuff, which makes you incredibly nervous, and it's very well-drawn out. Unfortunately, the film ended up being largely criticised by Iranians, who saw it as another attempt by America to shame their culture. Many critics stated it had a hidden agenda. This is simply not true. The real-life Betty Mahmoody acted as a consultant on the film, to ensure accuracy, and it is made more than clear that she saw Islam as having great beauty in it; it was just the excessively oppressive system to women she could not adapt to. Some accused this of showing all Muslims as monsters. Now, I can see why this film could be used as racist propaganda, but, I also didn't see it this way. It was telling a true story, no more, no less. For instance, without giving too much away, it is actually a group of Muslims that aid Betty in her daring escape plan; the same penalty would be handed out to these Muslims if they were caught helping her - death! Some of the Muslims in the film are shown to be warm and very gracious, so I don't believe there was any hidden agenda here. If there WAS then all I can say is wherever the eyes of the filmmakers may have been, the heart of its stars were definitely in the right place. I also find it hard to believe that despite the harrowing tone of the film, those same critics that were mocking it stated that it is no more than an over-sensationlised, Lifetime-type TV movie; grossly inaccurate. This is far from some glossy, shallow melodrama. Yet, those with a rather closed-mind may view this as the be-all and end-all to life in Iran, which I don't believe it sets out to do. The incidental music accompanying many of the scenes was also criticised by some, though I personally felt it helped create the intended atmosphere and tone, as well as enhance the edge of the story.Ian Phillips

estebangonzalez10 "I don't know how to say this to you. We're not going back. We're staying here."Not Without My Daughter is basically a family drama that focuses on spouses from two very different cultures that clash together. Sally Field plays Betty, an American woman who has been happily married in the States with her Iranian husband, Moody (played by Alfred Molina). The two have a beautiful young daughter played by Sheila Rosenthal. The film takes place in the 80's when tension between America and Iran began escalating, and in a way it begins to take a toll on Betty's marriage. Moody gets bullied a lot at the hospital where he works due to his Iranian background and he eventually ends up losing his job. He convinces Betty to come along with him to Iran to visit his family and that is where the tension escalates because Moody's intentions are to stay in Iran. The Iranian culture is very patriarchal so Betty can't return to the States with her daughter and ends up being held against her will in a country that seems to despise her. Moody who seemed to be a loving husband, goes through a drastic change when he arrives at Iran and begins abusing his wife and forcing her to stay against her will. The film then centers on Betty's attempt to find a way out of her current situation. Sally Field and Alfred Molina are talented actors, but I fear the material they had to work with was very weak. These characters are stereotypes of how we perceive Iranians to be and I'm afraid the characters are never given distinct personalities other than portraying the Iranians as bad people. I just found the story a bit too lazy and predictable because it was full of clichés. The film plays out exactly the way you are expecting it to.

Avinash Patalay Post 9/11 the entire world is slowly coming to terms with the alternate world that exists which we know now as "Middle East". Today we are all upto speed with the culture, events and happenings out there. "Not without my daughter" released in 1991 would be hailed as one of the first which gave sample of reality bite. And certainly the word "queer" would have knocked our head umpteen number of times as we watched it. The degree of truth portrayed in it is a matter of debate/ opinion and I shall abstain from crossing the lines. Much have been discussed and argued on the subject already. Alfred Molina was an eye-opener. He shocks you with his performance. I wouldn't doubt the competent factor in Sally Field. She would give nothing less than her best. But in "Not without my daughter" I felt her performance was falling short of something. Or maybe the other characters came across more strong than her. Roshan Seth was adequate. "The kite runner" & "A thousand splendid suns" are "Not without my daughter" of today.

faerie_number3 This movie may not win in terms of geographical accuracy or cinematography. However, the woman depicted in the movie is based on the real Betty and she is the writer of the screenplay.I know many things about many different countries, which seems to be odd for an American. I have read many books about Islam, and ultimately I think that it is most often a religion associated with violence, especially against women. I understand that there are many modern, peaceful people who practice Islam, and I am of the opinion that they have adapted an ancient, oppressive creed to their modern progressive values in order to reclaim it for peace.To anyone who thinks the husband is irrational, or unrealistic, understand that this movie is based on ACTUAL events, not fiction. I know as a woman, that there is no way I could ever safely travel through Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and many other places regardless of it being 2010. I feel it is sick and sad that these women are covered because the men in those places have not learned to control themselves.I interact with many international students within my TESL program, and the only people who prefer to not speak with me or acknowledge my statements in a classroom have been Muslim men. Culture is one thing, and trying to kill Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a dutch parliament member originally from Somalia, for making a film about exactly which parts of the Qur'an oppress women is another. Sadly, Islamic extremists did manage to kill her director, Theo Van Gogh, while he was bicycling in Amsterdam (not an Islamic country). I am proud of France for standing up for equality and banning womens' head scarfs in Governmental buildings because they represent the inequality of men and women which goes against their republic. I just wish I could convince my public college to stop building prayer rooms and foot washing facilities for Muslim students using student fees. No religion should be getting state money for any educational facilities, and yet in Minnesota there is a charter school next to a mosque that is suing the state for not handing over funds because they violate state law regarding religion in schools (google Muslim school in MN gets state funding). They, of course, are not the only religion trying to get into schools. Many Christians would like to see their religion in schools again as well. I have been following stories of Islamic oppression of women for many years with my mother. While I understand that there are MANY, NON-VIOLENT, MODERN Muslim people, there are still many cases of abuse against women and children by Islamic men across the world. There have also been many cases of Islamic extremists destroying artistic works, literatures, and other cultural artifacts that are not of their culture. This is fundamentally wrong in my opinion, as it was for death metal groups to burn down 13th century Christian churches in Sweden, (google Swedish church fire). These types of art and structures hold value to ALL MANKIND not just the people that made them. This is human history being destroyed!I myself am of the opinion that MOST major organized religions oppress women, especially Catholicism, Lutheranism and various sects of Christianity in America. Buddhism didn't allow women to practice for a long time. I do believe that Islam may be the most oppressive religion to women overall.In light of more recent works like Persepolis, this movie is not unrealistic, despite being tacky and poorly filmed. In Persepolis, the parents are very liberal and modern. The writer of those graphic novels lives in France despite having very liberal parents, and that says everything.