Jon Stewart’s film about one man’s struggle for survival comes to UK cinemas
Rosewater (2014), starring Gael García Bernal and Kim Bodnia, is the directorial debut of comedian and host of The Daily Show Jon Stewart. The film premiered at the 2014 Telluride Film Festival and explores the true, shocking story that is adapted from Bahari’s memoirs, co-written by Aimee Molloy Then They Came for Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival published in 2011. Rosewater closely mirrors Bahari’s autobiographical account depicting the Iranian-Canadian journalist’s ordeal that changed his life forever. Whilst reporting on the protests during the presidential election in Iran, Bahari was arrested on 21st June 2009 and held captive for 118 days in Tehran’s Evin prison. He was arrested under the preposterous charges based on suspicions of being a spy sent to undermine Ayatollah Khomeini’s reformist regime.
We spoke with Maziar Bahari, following an advanced screening of Rosewater at the 59th BFI London Film Festival (LFF) in 2014, to find out more about his life-defining experience and its translation to the big screen.
How close was Gael García Bernal’s representation of you in Rosewater and how much of the film resembles your book – what has been added or re-imagined?
The character that you see in the film is inspired by my story and is based on the book. But it is really the story of thousands of journalists around the world who are going through the same thing every day. While, at the same time, it is a film so the character has to be more dramatic as there has to be some kind of dramatic arc in the film; whereas my character develops less dramatically, let’s say, in the real-life. In order to make it a dramatic character, Jon [Stewart] started with a really reserved, private, weak character and made that person more aware and stronger. I think that is a real representation of what happened to many of us during the great movement. It happened to me not as dramatic as that but as a nation – as a group of journalists – we became more aware of the power of people; the power of people to make a change when we saw many in the street. When I went to the streets to record the post-election demonstrations I did not expect to have so many people on the streets that day. I don’t think people thought as many would be there and demonstrate silently like that. It surprised people and it surprised government. I think the government was somehow in shock and paranoid about the power of people. I think, as an individual, it’s not an exact portrayal of me. I think as a character in the film it is.
Was there anything you would have liked to have seen from your memoirs included in the film that may not have translated to the screen?
No, I don’t think so. I’m quite happy with the film. There were certain scenes that I may not have been happy with when they were being filmed, but I always trusted Jon’s intelligence about what was included. I think Jon, as a person, is someone who is doing a very important team effort night after night; he knows how to collaborate with people but not having this egomaniacal approach to power. I think he did a very good job in terms of including people’s ideas while he was directing the film. In the beginning, while we were talking before the film and working on the script, it was a collaborative effort. I was on the set almost every day for at least 75% of the time. I could have been there 100% of the time but I had to come to London for a family matter. It was a very collaborative effort and as a first-time film director he had no ego, he knew that his heart was in the right place. But as a technician, of course, he didn’t know certain things so he surrounded himself with good people who really helped him, including Gael – he is an amazing actor, he really is.
Kim Bodnia’s performance was also very powerful as Javadi – “Mr. Rosewater”.
Yes. I think with both Gael and Kim Bodnia, because they had to work in such a small, constrained space, they had to rely on their emotional intelligence; an emotional intelligence that somehow came through their eyes. As a fan of The Bridge (2011- ) I always thought that he could do this. Also, as a fan of Gael, from Amores Perros (2000), I always knew he was capable of that too. Some of my favourite scenes in the film are the interactions between the two. You can see that because Kim – in order to become that character – had to show so many different levels of information though his eyes and he did that really well.