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Nov 14, 2014 By Shawn Hazelett Jon Stewart

is the true story of Maziar Bahari and the events surrounding his coverage of the 2009 Iranian election. Gael Garcia Brunel plays Bahari, a successful journalist who leaves a comfortable London lifestyle for his native Tehran to cover an election that offers the promise of toppling Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s controversial regime. Once there, however, he sidesteps inflammatory material in favor of safe reporting, a task that becomes more difficult after Ahmadinejad’s unexpected (and probably fraudulent) victory raises tensions on both sides of the election. After witnessing soldiers opening fire upon demonstrators, he decides to expose the oppression to the world—in doing so, he knowingly exposes himself. It’s a brave action that isn’t without consequence: he’s arrested and charged with being a spy, a ludicrous accusation that is impossible to disprove and earns him 118 days of physical and psychological torture in an Iranian prison.

The first film by Jon Stewart is also a rare trek into dramatic waters. What he presents is an informative, well-structured story that even manages to strike a few snarky notes in unexpected places. This actually isn’t a film with many discernable flaws—it’s just one that lacks identity. It feels painfully objective and loyal to the source material, resulting in a narrative that’s bland and too afraid to step on any toes. Knowing Stewart, a certain perspective can be assumed. But here he’s operating independent of The Daily Show, a platform that earned him the reputation of being a trustworthy moral arbiter, one who challenges not just power brokers but those charged with scrutinizing them. It’s of little surprise that his directorial debut applauds the self-sacrifice of people willing to seek and expose injustice—however, a film valuing bold reporting should likewise be injected with bold storytelling. Unfortunately, Rosewater is more of a passive observer.

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Author rating: 4.5/10