Not Without My Daughter (1991) * * *

Directed by:  Brian Gilbert

Starring:  Sally Field, Alfred Molina, Sheila Rosenthal, Roshan Seth, Mony Ray

"There's such beauty in Islam," says one character to Betty Mahmoody (Field), whose Iranian husband Moody (Molina) takes Betty and their four-year-old daughter to Moody's homeland during the height of Ayotollah Khomeini's reign over Iran ostensibly on vacation, but soon keeps them trapped there against their will.    If one is looking for the beauty of the Islamic culture, this is not the movie to look for it.    The Muslim characters are seen as a hostile, hysterical, violent people who can't be reasoned with and, on the basis of this movie, are folks someone like Betty wants to get as far away from as possible.    Is the movie, based on real events, fair in its treatment of the Islamic culture?    Don't know, but in Betty's eyes, fairness is not on the agenda and based on the information supplied to us, we are engaged in her attempts to free herself from her husband's (and Iran's) tyrannical grip.    Whether the movie is one-sided in its view of the Khomeini-era Iranian society is another movie for another time.

As Not Without My Daughter opens, Betty, Moody, and their daughter Mahtob (Rosenthal) live a happy, quiet life in Michigan.   Moody is a doctor at a local hospital, who because of subtle racism is soon let go from his job.    As Americanized as Moody seems to be, he is homesick and wishes to visit his family he hasn't seen in years.    Betty is hesitant to go, based on Iran's lousy diplomatic relations with the United States in the mid-1980s, but Moody swears on the Koran that nothing bad will happen to her.    We learn that swearing on the Koran is a worthless gesture once the Mahmoodys land in Iran.   

Moody's family yells at him and bashes him at every turn, so much so that we don't know why Moody doesn't just turn around and leave.    But, he slowly relearns the Islamic way, which includes rising for dawn prayers and keeping his wife and daughter cloaked in headdresses while trying to make sure neither shows one lock of hair in public.   Betty is thrilled when the day arrives to go home, but Moody has other plans.    He says they are staying there permanently so he can find a job in Iran, much to the horror of Betty, who is as welcome by Moody's family as a fart in church.

Moody quickly changes to a monster who installs a reign of terror of Betty and Mahtob, which is apparently what two weeks under the influence of Islam does if the movie is to be believed.    It is a tribute to Molina's skill that he can negotiate such a quick personality change and make it believable.   He wholeheartedly embraces the role of the villain whom Betty must plot to escape from.    She finds help in the form of a sympathetic shopkeeper (Seth), who knows some people who know some people that can help her flee from Iran, although that trek isn't exactly safe either.  

On an emotional level, Not Without My Daughter is engaging.    Field plays a completely sympathetic woman who had no idea that her husband would betray her in such a cruel fashion.    The bad Iranians in the film aren't supplied with any subtitles, but based on the fact that they are screaming their dialogue at Moody and Betty, we can infer that they aren't saying anything nice.    There are references to how beautiful Islam can be, but based on the evidence seen, this assessment has to be taken on faith.  

Not Without My Daughter plays on the natural human fear of being imprisoned and looking desperately for help without losing hope.    Betty's visits to the Swiss embassy (there is no American embassy in Iran) raise our spirits, only to have them dashed again when the ambassador tells Betty she is powerless to stop her husband from keeping her there.    We feel for Betty and we are soon engrossed solely in her efforts to get the hell out of Iran and not look back.    There was a documentary made in 2002 about Moody called Without My Daughter, which tells the story from his perspective.    I would like to see it to hear his story, but I can't imagine an acceptable justification for his actions.    In the meantime, we have this film, which is tautly told, suspenseful, and by the end, we are just as happy as Betty to see the American flag rustling in the wind.