One of the few movies from 2009 I’ve yet to see (but Kubryk raved about it; and it’ll probably end up in his 10 Best List for the year), The Stoning of Soraya M. got a lukewarm reception during its limited theatrical engagement, but should find a wider audience on DVD and Blu-ray. The film stars Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog) and Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ) and it gained notoriety in Iran, where it was banned. Finishing just behind Slumdog Millionaire as last year’s TIFF, the drama comes to DVD ($27.98) and Blu-ray Disc ($39.99) on March 9th sporting two separate audio commentaries with the filmmakers and crew as well as a behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of. The Blu-ray Disc contains a 1080P High Definition Widescreen version of the film and 5.1 Dolby Digital.
When a journalist (Caviezel) is stranded in a remote Iranian village, he meets a bold woman named Zahra (Aghdashloo) who takes a big chance to reveal what the villagers will stop at nothing to hide. Thus begins the story of Soraya (Mozhan Marnò), a kind woman whose cruel, divorce-seeking husband trumps up false charges of infidelity against her, which carry an unimaginable penalty. Soraya and Zahra attempt to navigate the villagers’ scheming, lies and deceit to prove her innocence. But when all else fails, Zahra must risk everything to use the only weapon she has left – her voice – to share Soraya’s shocking story with the world.